Ellington to run for circuit judge

Prosecutor known for deal in 3 W. Memphis slayings

A longtime northeast Arkansas prosecutor announced Tuesday his plans to run for a newly created circuit judge position.

Scott Ellington announced on Facebook that he will run for the position in the upcoming election.

“Just a short post to let those know who have been asking, I will confirm that I am going to run for Circuit Judge for the recently created 12th Division,” Ellington wrote. “A more formal announcement will follow. Stay tuned.”

Ellington is district prosecuting attorney for the 2nd Judicial District, which includes Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Greene, Mississippi and Poinsett counties.

“It’s an opportunity,” Ellington told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette about his run for circuit judge. “It’s like an adventure.”

He was elected prosecuting attorney in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. Before becoming prosecuting attorney, Ellington served as a deputy prosecutor and worked in private practice for 15 years.

“I have been on both sides of the courtroom,” Ellington said. “I know how regular lawyers try to make a living. I also know people want their fair day in court. I am from a small town in Brookland, and I know people don’t have money to squander on delays and back-and-forths.”

Among Ellington’s most high-profile cases while serving as prosecuting attorney was an agreement he reached in 2011 with three men who were convicted as teenagers in the 1993 slayings of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis. Ellington agreed to an Alford Plea, which upheld the convictions of Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr. and Jason Baldwin — known as the West Memphis Three — but allowed them to be released from prison and to maintain their innocence.

The case drew national attention after the 8-year-old boys were discovered missing May 5, 1993. Police found their bodies a day later in a wooded area near a subdivision known as Robin Hood Hills.

Police said the teens beat the boys and sexually mutilated one. During Echols’ and Baldwin’s original trial, prosecutors contended the mutilation was part of a satanic ritual.

Other notable cases Ellington dealt with included the capital-murder trial of Jerry Lard, who killed a Trumann police officer; an investigation into possible ballot fraud in Mississippi County; and dealing with national attention related to the death of Chavis Carter, who was fatally shot while handcuffed in the back of a Jonesboro patrol car.