The Jefferson County prosecutor’s office has been on a tear of successfully doing what it does, that being to administer justice and put space between those who break the law and the rest of society.
The two cases we refer to were high-profile cases. One was a heart-breaker and the other a head-shaker. The more emotional case, of course, was the one against KeShone Smith, who was a mere 19 years of age when he gunned down detective Kevin Collins in 2020.
He had been charged with capital murder, but the jury didn’t see that he had killed Collins in a premeditated and deliberate way. Instead, Smith was convicted of first-degree murder, which seems to better fit the spur-of-the-moment nature of the shootout that took Collins’ life.
The other case, one that just seemed puzzling, was the one against Rodrick Morris, who was charged with working in tandem with Maurice Taggart to siphon close to $700,000 from the Urban Renewal Agency when Taggart was the director.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
We say the case was puzzling because it would seem that the scheme perpetuated by the two was destined to fail, although in fairness to their deviousness, we have heard from accountants who said the two were close to pulling off the caper.
The more interesting case in the Urban Renewal matter was the one against Taggart, who hinted on more than one occasion that others would be implicated at his trial, but that trial will of course never happen since Taggart was gunned down at his home last year and died a short time later.
In each of the two cases, the defendant was sentenced to 35 years, although the sentence against Morris could have been shorter, had the judge followed the recommendation from the jury. But instead of sentencing Morris to 5 years in prison, the judge stacked the sentences, giving Morris seven times that number of years to consider his mistake.
“We’re satisfied with that,” said Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Hunter. “We think that’s a good verdict and a good sentence, in this particular case. … We’re glad we could get this done and a resolution made.”
Criminals tilt the world in troubling ways. Even though what they do invariably leaves a mark, prosecutors return order to the world and instill confidence in the public that those who do wrong will pay for their crimes.
Congratulations to Hunter and his team. He has said that prosecutors do not always get all of the evidence they would like in order to effectively prosecute a case. Instead, they have to work with the evidence they are given. In these cases, he took what he had and convinced two juries that that evidence was sufficient and telling enough to put people behind bars. That is a high bar, as it should be.