Suspect declared fit for trial in toddler’s road-rage killing

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims on Monday set February trial dates for a Little Rock man accused of killing a 3-year-old boy in a December road-rage shooting after state doctors found the man is sane.

Gary Eugene Holmes, 33, is charged with first-degree murder, committing a terroristic act and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the slaying of Acen Ahmeer King. The charges carry a potential life sentence.

His trial could not be scheduled until the question of Holmes’ mental health was resolved. His attorney, Ron Davis, told the judge at Monday’s hearing that Holmes would not challenge the findings that he is not mentally ill.

The toddler was a backseat passenger in his grandmother’s car when someone fired a shot into the vehicle near the intersection of Mabelvale Cut Off Road and Warren Drive in Little Rock, a week before Christmas. Investigators say the boy’s grandmother didn’t realize the boy had been struck in the right side of his chest until she arrived at a west Little Rock shopping center where she was meeting relatives.

She said she’d had an exchange with another driver at the southwest Little Rock intersection with both of them honking at each other. The man then got out of the car and fired a gunshot, but the woman said she thought the man had fired into the air. The boy’s infant sister was also in the back seat but was not harmed.

Prosecutors say they have at least one witness who has described for police how Holmes got out of his car and took aim at the other vehicle before firing. Police said Holmes was angry because he thought the woman had been following him too closely. Holmes pulled over to let her car pass and then fired a pistol he’d been carrying in his lap.

Holmes has denied any wrongdoing, telling police the gun went off accidentally, court filings show.

Acen’s death was the second slaying of a child in Little Rock during the holiday season. Just before Thanksgiving, 2-year- old Ramiya Reed was shot to death by someone who fired into the car in which she was riding with her mother and cousins on South Harrison Street.

Two suspects, Larry James Jackson, 17, and Deshaun Malik Rushing, 21, have been charged with capital murder in the girl’s death. Both have felony records. They were arrested six months after Ramiya was killed. Authorities have not disclosed any evidence against the pair. Jackson is scheduled to stand trial in December, and Rushing’s trial is set for February.

Holmes, who has convictions for sexual assault, first-degree battery, robbery, second-degree domestic battery and terroristic threatening, has been in custody since he surrendered to police three days before Christmas, the same day Acen was buried.

His attorney requested a mental evaluation at the State Hospital for Holmes at his February arraignment because Holmes had been briefly thought to have schizophrenia in 2015, although doctors eventually concluded he was suffering from a depressive disorder, marijuana abuse and antisocial personality disorder, court records show.

In May, doctors asked for more time to observe Holmes before deciding on a diagnosis in light of the schizophrenia finding and his ongoing complaints about depression and difficulty sleeping. They reported that he was being uncooperative with their efforts to assess him.

According to the mental evaluation report presented to the judge Monday, doctors concluded that he was feigning delusional and paranoid beliefs. Testing showed he claimed to have “very extreme and uncommon symptoms, rare combinations of symptoms and unusual psychotic systems.”

His diagnosis by forensic psychologist Michael Simon is malingering with marijuana abuse and antisocial personality disorder, the report stated.

Simon’s report states that Holmes portrayed himself to examiners as depressed, acting withdrawn and subdued. Holmes was seen interacting normally with others in the hospital, including flirting with some women patients and staff members, the report said.

Prosecutors say they have at least one witness who has described for police how Holmes got out of his car and took aim at the other vehicle before firing. Police said Holmes was angry because he thought the woman had been following him too closely.