Jury selection starts in Bay- slaying trial

JONESBORO — Attorneys expect to make opening statements Thursday or Friday in the capital- murder trial of a man accused of killing a 90- year- old Craighead County woman.

Jury selection began Monday in Craighead County Circuit Court for the trial of Richard Jordan Tarver, 30, of Bay. Tarver is charged with killing Lavinda Counce of Bay in July 2015.

Counce disappeared from her home July 3, 2015. Authorities found her car in the parking lot of Northeast Arkansas Baptist Hospital in Jonesboro a day later. Surveillance video showed a man walking from the car toward U. S. 49, which runs beside the hospital.

Deputies found Counce’s body in a cornfield west of Bay on July 12. She had been shot in the head, Craighead County Sheriff Marty Boyd said.

In addition to capital murder, Tarver also faces kidnapping, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, theft of property, possession of a defaced firearm and abuse of a corpse.

Potential jurors spent the day answering lengthy questionnaires. Attorneys questioned six people at a time Tuesday as the process to seat a 12- member panel began.

Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Grant DeProw of Jonesboro said he expected the selection to be completed by Thursday.

Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington said in January that he would seek the death penalty against Tarver if he is convicted. Ellington said then that the slaying was “committed in an especially cruel or depraved manner” and that Tarver “intended to inflict mental anguish upon [ Counce] by creating uncertainty to her ultimate fate.”

Ellington also said Tarver inflicted “serious physical abuse” on Counce and said that because of her age, Tarver should have known she could not defend herself.

During the questioning of jurors Tuesday, DeProw asked a 77- year- old woman if she could render a death sentence.

“I have strong feelings,” the woman said. “Only God can determine life.”

“That’s a good point,” DeProw replied. “That’s a question I may ask when the trial is over.”

Randall Miller, a Jonesboro attorney, is representing Tarver.