Lack of evidence cited in dropping LR murder charges
Pulaski County prosecutors on Friday dropped murder charges against a College Station man accused of luring four men into an armed ambush in Little Rock in 2020 that left one of them dead and a bystander wounded.
Avron Britton, 22, had been facing a life sentence on charges of capital murder, first degree battery and three counts of attempted capital murder. Deputy prosecutor Justin Brown told Pulaski County Circuit Judge Karen Whatley at Friday’s hearing he did not have the evidence to bring Britton to trial because none of the survivors saw who shot at them so they could not conclusively identify Britton, who has lived in Maumelle and Little Rock, as their attacker.
Britton, represented by attorney Jordan Tinsley, still faces problems with the law. He is awaiting trial on aggravated robbery and first-degree battery charges over accusations that he and three other men were involved in a May 2019 holdup in Little Rock at the Fair Oaks Apartments, 9600 W. 36th St., where Nathaniel Williams was shot. He is also facing felony marijuana trafficking charges in connection with a January arrest in Little Rock where police reported finding him with marijuana and a pistol.
According to police, 18-year-old Dorian Withers of North Little Rock was killed two days before Christmas 2020 when someone opened fire on the 2016 gray GMC Terrain he was driving in the 4100 block of Ludwig Street. Passengers Taylor Hawkins, Nelson Mann and Cortez Duncan escaped without injury but the gunfire wounded Victor Buchanan who lived on the street while bullets struck the home of an 89-year-old woman.
Britton became a suspect in the deadly shooting after police learned that Withers’ girlfriend and the three SUV survivors had been feuding over social media that night with someone they knew as Chuck. Detectives said Britton was known to go by that nickname.
One of the SUV survivors, Nelson Mann, told police that they were on Ludwig because Chuck had contacted them through Instagram to tell them to meet him in the John Barrow neighborhood. Taylor Hawkins, the second survivor, told police the message did not show Chuck but they recognized his voice and the message showed the corner of West 36th Street and John Barrow Road, about five blocks from the shooting site. The third survivor, Cortez Duncan, said he knew that Withers’ girlfriend was receiving threats but that he didn’t see anything that night.
Cellphone records show Britton was in the area of the slaying during the time of the shooting but his lawyer said that’s because Britton was at the home of his brother, who lives in that neighborhood.
Authorities have contended that Britton has gang connections, noting that he performs rap music under the stage name Backstreet Chuck. But he spells it “Baxkstreet Xhuck,” following a practice of the Bloods street gang to avoid the letter C due to their rivalry with the Crips gang.