Fayetteville murder case in hands of jury

FAYETTEVILLE — A Washington County jury is set to resume this morning deliberating the fate of Christopher Lamont Rankin, who is charged with the first-degree murder of a Springdale man.

Rankin, 26, is charged with shooting Trenton Coney to death in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2018 in a parking lot off West Avenue and Dickson Street.

Coney, 22, was shot once in the chest and pronounced dead at a local hospital, according to police.

Rankin, of Sherwood, is claiming self-defense. The evidentiary portion of the trial and closing arguments ended Tuesday afternoon, and the jury deliberated about 45 minutes before being sent home for the evening by Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay, who told jurors to be back at 8:30 a.m.

Several witnesses told police Rankin was talking with Lillian Gracie Williams in the parking lot when Coney walked up to check on her. Coney and Williams were friends, according to a police report. Witnesses said Rankin got upset, pulled a gun from his jacket pocket and pointed it at Coney, according to a news release at the time of the incident.

The men exchanged words and Rankin put the gun back in his pocket before a fight broke out, witnesses told police. They said Coney tripped and fell to the ground and Rankin stood over him, pulled the gun from his pocket again and fired one shot striking Coney in his chest, according to the release.

Rankin fled before officers arrived, but police soon found and arrested him nearby. At one point, Rankin misdirected police who didn’t realize he was the man they were looking for, telling them, “He went that way.”

Police later found Rankin’s jacket, shirt and the gun hidden a short distance from the parking lot.

Prosecutor Matt Durrett told jurors Rankin wasn’t defending himself and asked they return a verdict of first-degree murder, though the lesser charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter are in play.

“This was not self-defense, this was more of an execution. The word that comes to mind is senseless,” Durrett said. “This was nothing more than a cold-blooded killing. He brought a gun to a fistfight, the law does not allow that.”

Rankin testified he saw a man he didn’t know approach from behind the car where he was talking to Williams and felt threatened and tried to retreat from the situation. Then the man, Coney, punched him in the face, Rankin said. He started running and shot backward because he thought Coney was chasing him, then just kept running.

“I didn’t know if I hit him or not,” Rankin said. “I wasn’t really aiming.”

Williams’ version of the story differed in most details, including she and Coney were friends, Coney was not acting in a threatening manner and Rankin, who she’d just met that evening, stood over Coney and fired while Coney was on the ground.

“It happened right in front of my car,” Williams told jurors.

Greg Klebanoff, a defense attorney, told jurors Rankin had never been to Fayetteville before the night of the shooting, has no criminal history, and had been offered a job with the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office after having been a corrections officer in Texas for several years.

“I was actually in fear for my life. I was scared. I panicked,” Rankin told jurors. “I wasn’t ready when he swung at me and it caught me by surprise. That guy had already assaulted me and I was really retreating, trying to run away from him and he came running after me.”

Rankin said his first mistake was having a gun on him.

Rankin