Hot Springs man gets 30 years after murder plea

HOT SPRINGS — A Hot Springs man originally charged with capital murder in a 2017 shooting outside a Hot Springs gas station was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to an amended charge of second-degree murder.

Lindaniel West, 42, was to stand trial Tuesday in Garland County Circuit Court and could have faced up to life in prison without parole or the death penalty for the Aug. 7, 2017, shooting of Derek A. Duvall, 29, at the Valero station at 1201 Central Ave., but West agreed to plead to the amended charge and was sentenced to the 30 years.

A warrant for West’s arrest in the shooting was issued Aug. 8, 2017, and West surrendered to authorities through his attorney, Brian Johnson, on Aug. 23, 2017. West was initially held without bail. He pleaded innocent to the charge on Oct. 23 and after a hearing on Nov. 8, 2017, his bail was set at $150,000 and he was released the next day.

West also faces a felony count of aggravated assault stemming from a July 18, 2017, incident that occurred before the shooting. West reportedly struck Willis Duvall, 32, with his vehicle after an argument between the two. Willis Duvall is the brother of Derek Duvall. A disposition hearing on the assault charge is set for Feb. 18.

On June 8, 2018, Garland County prosecutor Michelle Lawrence filed a motion to have the court appoint a special prosecutor in both cases against West, saying that her office was unable to prosecute “due to an inability for this office to obtain cooperation from the victim’s representative.”

On June 20, 2018, orders were issued to request a special prosecutor from the Prosecution Coordinator’s Commission, and deputy prosecutor Jack McQuary of Little Rock was appointed to prosecute both charges against West.

At Monday’s hearing, McQuary represented the state, and West was represented by attorney Shane Ethridge.

According to the probable-cause affidavit on the murder charge, on Aug. 7, 2017, shortly before 9 p.m., Hot Springs police were called to the Valero station to investigate a shooting and found Derek Duvall on the ground on the west side of the gas station dead with a gunshot wound in his chest.

Video surveillance showed a man, later identified as West, approach Derek Duvall. As West approached, he appeared to raise his shirt, reach into his waistband, then shoot Derek Duvall in the chest.

In the video, Derek Duvall ran away, and West walked back to the area he came from, getting into a dark-colored Cadillac that drove away. The affidavit notes that Willis Duvall was at the scene and told police detective Mark Fallis that he was there with his brother.

Willis Duvall said he was inside paying for an item when he looked outside and saw West shoot his brother and then flee in the Cadillac. Willis Duvall said he has known West, described as a “distant relative,” for many years and knew him to drive a Cadillac like the one seen leaving the scene.

The homicide was one of several in that general area of the city during the summer of 2017.

According to the probable-cause affidavit on the aggravated assault charge, on July 19, 2017, around 2 p.m., Willis Duvall arrived at the Police Department to report an incident that occurred around noon the previous day.

Willis Duvall said he was in the 200 block of Pond Street having his vehicle repaired by another man. As the two of them were standing outside, West drove up to the residence in a red Dodge pickup, the affidavit said. Willis Duvall told police that he and West had issues in the past “regarding family members.”

He said West approached him and a minor argument began. Willis Duvall said he walked away from West’s vehicle and West “revved his engine” and drove toward Duvall’s vehicle. West struck Willis Duvall, knocking him to the ground, and then struck Duvall’s vehicle and fled the scene, the affidavit said.

Willis Duvall went to CHI St. Vincent Hot Springst and learned that he had a fractured ankle.

The other man with Willis Duvall on Pond Street that day reportedly confirmed the argument, Duvall walking away and then being struck by West’s vehicle, the affidavit said.

On April 3, 2018, West’s attorney at the time, Clay Janske, requested a mental evaluation for West to determine his fitness to proceed. On Aug. 20, 2018, West was found fit to proceed, and the case was continued and reset for trial multiple times before being set for trial Tuesday.

A victim impact statement from Sheila Duvall, mother to Derek and Willis Duvall, was entered into the record as part of Monday’s hearing. In the statement, she said Derek Duvall was “one of the loves of my life” and that Willis Duvall “Thank you God, still is the love of my life.”

She wrote that West “hunted down my son, Willis, and ran him down with his vehicle” and later “sought out my son, Derek, and shot him as he was leaving a gas station.” She said West’s actions were “deliberate and pre-calculated” and that since her son’s death she has had to “watch [West] in court and put up with him smiling at me and his family goading me every time he has been in court.”

She wrote that West “has never shown any remorse or acted as if he even cared about what he did.” She said Willis Duvall is still dealing with the injuries West caused him, and because he was with his brother when his brother was shot he “is having nightmares and depression.”

“Willis and I will never have the opportunity to watch Derek become a father, we will never be able to spend family time with him. We cannot tell him we love him or even fuss at him when he messes up. Lindaniel West took that from us with one shot.”

Sheila Duvall wrote that she has joined the fight against gun violence. “I am trying to reach the young people in our community and teach them to find another way to deal with each other. Violence and drugs are not the answer, never have been and never will be,” she wrote.