Charges nolle prosequi against suspect charged in November shooting at club
A Forrest City man facing charges in connection with a shooting inside a local nightclub on Thanksgiving weekend has been freed from custody after charges against him were nolle prosequi in St. Francis County Circuit Court Wednesday.
Devin Kelly, 26, of Forrest City, had been held in the St. Francis County Jail since Dec. 9 on charges of attempted first-degree murder and three counts of firstdegree battery, along with a SFC District Court warrant and for nonpayment of court fines and costs.
Earlier this month, prosecutors filed formal charges against Kelly in connection with a Nov. 26 shooting inside the J&S Lounge on West Broadway where Paris Foy was shot several times and hospitalized at the Med in Memphis. Four other people were also reportedly injured during the incident, with some being grazed by bullets and others being injured while attempting to flee to safety.
The criminal information in Kelly’s case was filed after being signed by First Judicial District Circuit Court Judge Chris Morledge, who wrote “probable cause found” on the document.
On Jan. 10, an entry on the court docket shows there was some confusion as to which attorney was representing Kelly. Morledge noted on the docket that public defender Jennifer Collins said she was representing Kelly, but local attorney and former prosecutor Austin Easley also claimed he was representing the defendant. Morledge then transferred the case to Circuit Court Judge Dion Wilson in Division 1.
Court filings from that point forward show Easley as the defendant’s attorney. Easley filed paperwork on Jan. 10, asking that Kelly’s bond be reduced, calling it unreasonable.
First Judicial District Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Hoshall Hodges Reeves noted on the motion to nolle prosequi Kelly’s charges, “After extensive review of the case file and interviews with potential witnesses the state has found there to be a disturbing lack of credible evidence thus making it impossible to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
On Wednesday, Wilson signed the order to nolle prosequi the current charges against Kelly.
Kelly had also been scheduled for a revocation hearing on Jan. 30, but that revocation was also nolle prosequi. Kelly had been serving five years unsupervised probation since December 2018 for third-degree battery and
residential burglary, with that probation set to expire in December this year.
Kelly was also arrested on forgery charges in April 2016 after allegedly passing fake $100 bills at a local business. That charge was nolle prosequi by the state in December 2018.