Sherwood man to stay in jail on gun charge

A Pulaski County man who was on pretrial release after an arrest earlier this year on federal drug trafficking charges was ordered to remain in jail pending trial by a federal magistrate judge following an arraignment Thursday on a new charge of possession of a firearm.

Brian Jeffrey Litton, 40, of Sherwood, was arraigned Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Tricia Harris on a new charge of possession an firearm while on pre-trial release.

Litton was one of nine people charged in an indictment in March on drug conspiracy charges related to a drug investigation in Sherwood. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and five counts of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Harris allowed Litton to leave jail on bond with conditions that he be placed on home detention with location monitoring and could only leave his home for specific activities allowed by the court.

In August, Harris ordered Litton back to jail after she found that he had violated the terms of his release.

A superseding indictment handed up by a grand jury earlier this month added the new charge and on Thursday, Litton was arraigned on the new charge from the Pulaski County jail, where he is being held for federal authorities.

Litton’s attorney, Molly Sullivan of the Federal Public Defenders Office in Little Rock, waived formal reading of the indictment, entered a plea of not guilty to all the charges and asked for a jury trial.

“The case is set before Judge [ U. S. District Judge Kristine G.] Baker and I believe there’s already a trial setting in place,” Harris said. “But there’s been another one put into place for speedy trial purposes for 11-22-21 at 9:30 a.m.”