Judge denies request to lower $200,000 bail in fatal shooting

A Pulaski County circuit judge on Monday declined to reduce the $200,000 bail set for a Little Rock teenager accused of killing a Sherwood mother of six in what prosecutors describe as an armed robbery.

Zereak Zernell Oliver, along with co-defendant Martieo F.D. Nash, is charged with first-degree murder, committing a terroristic act, aggravated robbery, fleeing and tampering with evidence after the July 16 fatal shooting at the home of Regina Annice Jackson at 5905 S. Woodview St.

Defense attorney Theodis Thompson Jr. called on Judge Wendell Griffen to reduce Oliver’s bail to an unspecified amount that would be more affordable for the 18-year-old defendant’s family. Thompson said that the judge hadn’t been told all of the evidence in the case and argued that bullet evidence shows that Jackson’s son was likely the aggressor in the shootout that killed her.

“There’s more to what’s been presented to the court,” Thompson said, telling the judge there was evidence that would prove his client’s innocence.

Undisclosed to the judge was that Oliver’s mother reported that someone had fired shots at their home at 9120 W. 35th on Sept. 14. No one was injured, and Latasha Oliver said she believed the

gunfire was retaliation for Jackson’s killing, according to the police report.

Deputy prosecutor Michael Wright asked the judge to consider raising Oliver’s bail, considering that he faces a possible life sentence and the circumstances of his arrest.

“The defendant fired a gun, and as a result someone was killed,” Wright said.

After the slaying, Oliver and Nash led police on a highspeed chase that ended in Little Rock with their arrests.

Oliver was driving the car, which belongs to his mother, and during the pursuit, someone in the vehicle threw out a backpack that contained suspected marijuana and a 9mm pistol, Sherwood detective

Craig Grisham testified. The pistol matched a 9mm spent shell casing found in front of Jackson’s home.

Grisham told the judge that Nash and Oliver had gone to the residence to buy an AR-15 rifle, a “chopper,” from Jackson’s son, but Steve Cokley III resisted when Oliver tried to take the weapon without paying for it. The detective said Oliver went to the car and got a pistol and opened fire,

and Cokley returned fire with the rifle. Police collected six casings from the gun, he said.

Questioned after his arrest, Oliver “went back and forth on his story” before admitting that he had fired at Cokley. But when told that Jackson had been killed, he denied shooting, Grisham testified.

The defendants are scheduled to stand trial in February. Nash’s bail is set at $75,000.