Bail cut denied for man accused of beating girlfriend

A Pulaski County circuit judge on Thursday declined to reduce the $75,000 bail of a Little Rock man accused of breaking his ex-girlfriend’s hand while beating her with his hands and a cooking pot after prosecutors cited the man’s previous misdemeanor battery conviction for attacking the same woman.

Defense attorney Colleen Barnhill-Kordsmeier asked Judge Barry Sims to cut the bail amount for 32-year-old Courtney Jawon Harris, who has been jailed since his arrest two days after Thanksgiving. She told the judge that the former College Station resident is not a flight risk and has never absconded before.

Harris has a place to live and a rice-packing job waiting for him when he’s released, Barnhill-Kordsmeier told the judge. She asked Sims to take into consideration how Harris surrendered when he heard police were looking to arrest him. Harris did not testify.

Deputy prosecutor Reese Lancaster opposed the request and suggested the judge should increase bail, considering that Harris is charged with aggravated robbery, kidnapping and felony theft. The charges carry a potential life sentence. He is scheduled to stand trial in May.

Lancaster told the judge that Harris showed up at Tiarra Griffis’ Little Rock home on Nov. 13, asking for money. When she refused to give him any money, he beat and kicked her, including hitting her with a cooking pot, and breaking her hand.

Harris then threatened her with pepper spray and intimidated her into accompanying him by bus to the US Bank at 401 W. Capitol Ave. in Little Rock so she could withdraw money from her account for him. Harris went into the bank with Griffis, the prosecutor said.

But a bank teller recognized that something was going on and got Griffis, 33, away from Harris, who left the bank, Lancaster told the judge.

Court filings show that Harris pleaded guilty to that third violation on Feb. 13 in exchange for a two-year prison sentence.