Specialist: Programs would benefit teen

Hearing focuses on 2 in heist, killing

FORT SMITH — One of three teens charged in the shooting death of a University of Arkansas at Fort Smith student last year would benefit from programs offered by the state’s juvenile justice system but in a confined setting, a psychologist testified Wednesday.

Curtis Grundy, who conducted a mental evaluation on Dionte Parks last summer, said the 17-year-old Parks suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, depression, a limited intellect and learning disabilities but still had the mental capacity to help plan the robbery that led to the death of 22-year-old Kaleb Watson at his north Fort Smith townhouse apartment.

Grundy testified that Parks tearfully expressed empathy and remorse for his actions when Grundy interviewed him at the Sebastian County Juvenile Detention Center in July.

He said Parks struggled with suicidal feelings after the shooting “‘because somebody died and it hurt me.’”

According to police, Parks came up with the idea to rob Watson, who lived two doors down from him. He provided the string to tie up Watson, a bag to hold stolen items and agreed to knock on the door to divert Watson while co-defendants Shakur and James Sharp went in the back door.

Parks knew about the plan to shoot Watson in the leg if he resisted, Grundy said.

Under cross examination by deputy prosecutor Alison Houston, Grundy could not guarantee that any programs Parks would participate in if sent to the state’s Division of Youth Services would succeed in rehabilitating him by the time he turned 21.

He also admitted that after four or five years, the juvenile justice system hasn’t succeeded in turning around Parks’ life.

Parks, Shakur Sharp, 18, and James Sharp, 16, each are charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and two counts of aggravated robbery in the Jan. 23, 2016, slaying of Watson, who was shot multiple times as police say the Sharp brothers were trying to rob him and his friend Bailey Smith, 21, who was visiting at the time.

The three are charged as adults in Sebastian County Circuit Court, but attorneys for the three are trying to get their cases transferred to juvenile court.

Attorneys have presented evidence on the motions for three days this week before Circuit Judge Stephen Tabor. The hearing was scheduled to continue March 29.

The high school students, all with close-cropped hair, appeared in court wearing white or striped jail uniforms and confined by chains around their waists attached to handcuffs and their legs hobbled by ankle chains. They spent the days quietly watching the court proceedings from the crowded defense table, sometimes crouching down in their chairs or yawning as the hours crept by.

Wednesday’s session focused mostly on James Sharp and Parks.

Community counselor Robert Wilkerson testified that he had known Sharp since he was 6 years old. He said Sharp was intelligent but lacked maturity. He disrupted the mentoring classes Wilkerson held to the point where he had to kick Sharp out.

He said Sharp was doing well living with Frieda Gordon, who was not a blood relation but agreed to take over raising Sharp because his mother, Malika McFadden, could not.

Wilkerson testified he was concerned about the lack of male role models in Sharp’s life to teach him how to grow to manhood.

When he heard about the arrest of the three teens for Watson’s shooting, he said, he was sad for Sharp because he didn’t think he was capable of realizing the repercussions of his actions.