Murder suspects free after posting bond
A Pine Bluff man and Houston woman were released from jail, nearly two years after both were booked and later held without bail on charges of capital murder and first-degree battery.
Deric C. Smith, 35, and Lamiesha Toney, 24, were released on $150,000 secured bond before 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Jefferson County jail log. The suspects are accused of killing Emmanuel Foster, 34, and injuring Jason Anderson with a firearm in the area of South Cedar and South Plum streets in Pine Bluff on April 24, 2020.
Anderson was found dead in a suspected homicide between Seventh and Eighth avenues on June 8 of this year. He was 38. A suspect for his death has not been named.
Given the absence of a witness, a judge lifted the no-bond order and set bail at $150,000 for the defendants.
“Jason Anderson was killed this summer, and we don’t have a witness to the homicide,” Jefferson County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones said. “We’re trying to put a case together.”
A jury trial for the defendants is set to begin Feb. 24 in the courtroom of 11th Judicial District-West First Division Circuit Judge Alex Guynn.
According to the probable cause affidavit, officers were dispatched to 1700 S. Cedar St. before 3 p.m. on April 24, 2020, in reference to a man being thrown out of a vehicle who appeared to have been shot. A Lincoln Town Car had just crashed into a residence at 1600 S. Plum St., and several individuals were standing over Foster, giving him CPR. An ambulance crew pronounced Foster dead at the scene.
Witnesses told officers they saw a male and female, later identified as Smith and Toney, get out of the vehicle and run through an alley south of the location of the incident.
Anderson, who was identified as the man being thrown out of the car, reportedly told officers that Smith, who also went by “Scrap Gee,” shot him. Anderson reportedly suffered a gunshot wound in the back of his head.
Police recovered a black Ruger 9-mm gun in a white grocery sack during a search of the vehicle after talking with Smith’s mother, according to the affidavit. Toney allegedly told a detective the frontseat passenger turned around and
punched her for no reason, and Smith began to fight the passenger. Toney allegedly said she reached for her gun, which fell under the front passenger seat, picked it up and shot the passenger and driver, according to authorities.
“Ms. Toney stated when the vehicle wrecked, she did not know what to do so she walked away from the scene,” the affidavit reads. “Ms. Toney was told if she shot the gun, then she should have gun residue on her hands. Ms. Toney got quiet and looked scared. Ms. Toney then requested for a lawyer. Ms. Toney did not appear to have any visible injuries.”
Smith and Toney have retained William Howard of Pine Bluff as their lawyer. A call to Howard’s office Thursday was not answered.