Murder charges dropped

Prosecutors have dropped murder charges against a Florida inmate accused of killing a man in North Little Rock nearly a year ago.

Pulaski County deputy prosecutor Ashley Clancy told Circuit Judge Herb Wright on Monday that prosecutors were withdrawing the first-degree murder and firearm counts against Charles Brent Gant because the only eyewitness to the November slaying of Pedro Omar Baez Esperanza had recanted his claim that he saw Gant shoot Esperanza.

Clancy told the judge that the witness identification was the basis for the arrest warrant charging Gant with murder.

Esperanza, 31, of North Little Rock was found fatally wounded at 14th and Vine streets 10 months ago.

The prosecutor did not name the witness in court, but records show that he is Deangelo Lamon Davis of North Little Rock. Davis, 25, who has been jailed for the past seven months, is awaiting transport to prison to serve a five-year sentence for repeatedly violating his probation on forgery, breaking-or-entering, and firearm convictions.

Gant of North Little Rock was brought back to Arkansas from Florida about three months ago.