Capital murder suspect’s hearing is Tuesday
TEXARKANA, Ark. — A man charged with capital murder in the September 2021 shooting death of a Texarkana man is scheduled for a status hearing Tuesday in Miller County Circuit Court.
Cornell Brown, 32, is charged in the death of Keith Mcfadden, 40, of Texarkana, Arkansas.
Cornell Brown’s trial date is set for June 24, according to court records. He is represented by attorneys John Pickett and Rolfe Lott IV, according to court documents.
Earlier this month, Cornell Brown’s wife Starlar Brown, 31, of Tennessee, appeared before Jones. Starlar Brown is also charged with capital murder. Her case has been continued until July, according to court records. She is represented by attorney Matthew Stephens.
The couple are both being held in the Miller County Detention Center without bond, according to court records.
Starlar Brown was arrested in February 2022, and Cornell Brown was arrested in October 2021 after the U.S. Marshals West Arkansas Task Force developed information that he was in Memphis, Tennessee.
At a 2022 hearing, Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell said the state was waiving the death penalty in Starlar Brown’s case. The only other punishment than death for capital murder in Arkansas is life without the possibility of parole.
Mcfadden, of Texarkana, Texas, was found suffering from a gunshot wound in a yard on East 11th Street and died shortly after he was discovered, according to reports.
The criminal information charging the husband and wife give two alternatives as motive: a fatal shooting in the course of an aggravated robbery or premeditated, deliberate murder.