Man sentenced to 30 years for ’17 shooting death
A Hot Springs man originally charged with capital murder for a 2017 fatal shooting outside a local gas station was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to an amended charge of second-degree murder.
Lindaniel West, 42, was set to stand trial today in Garland County Circuit Court and could have faced up to life in prison without parole or the death penalty for the Aug. 7,
2017, shooting death of Derek A. Duvall, 29, at the Valero, 1201 Central Ave., but West agreed to plead to the amended charge and was sentenced to the maximum of 30 years.
A warrant for West’s arrest in the shooting was issued Aug.
8, 2017, and West surrendered to authorities through his attorney, Brian Johnson, on Aug. 23, 2017, and was initially held without bond.
West pleaded not guilty to the charge on Oct. 23 and after a bond hearing on Nov. 8, 2017, his bond was set at $150,000 and he was released the next day.
West also faces a felony count of aggravated assault stemming from an incident that occurred prior to the shooting on July 18, 2017. West allegedly struck another man, Willis Duvall, 32, with his vehicle following an argument between the two. Willis Duvall is the brother of Derek Duvall. A disposition hearing on the assault charge is set for Feb. 18.
On June 8, 2018, Garland County Prosecutor Michelle Lawrence filed a motion to have the court appoint a special prosecutor in both of the cases against West citing a conflict with her office, notably that they were unable to prosecute “due to an inability for this office to obtain cooperation from the victim’s representative.”
On June 20, 2018, orders were issued to request a special prosecutor from the Prosecution Coordinator’s Commission and Deputy Prosecutor Jack McQuary of Little Rock was appointed to prosecute both charges against West.
At Monday’s hearing, McQuary represented the state and West was represented by attorney Shane Ethridge.
According to the probable cause affidavit on the murder charge, on Aug.
7, 2017, shortly before 9 p.m., Hot Springs police responded to the Valero in reference to a shooting and found Derek Duvall lying on the ground on the west side of the gas station deceased with a gunshot wound to his chest.
Video surveillance showed a heavyset black male with long dreadlocks, later identified as West, approach Derek Duvall. As West approached, he appeared to raise his shirt, reach into his waistband, then shoot Derek Duvall in the chest.
In the video, Derek Duvall ran away and West walked back to the area he came from, getting into a dark-colored Cadillac that left the scene. The affidavit notes Willis Duvall was on the scene and told Detective Mark Fallis he was there at the station with his brother.
Willis Duvall said he was inside paying for an item when he looked outside and saw West shoot his brother and then flee the scene in a Cadillac. Willis Duvall said he has known West, described as a “distant relative,” for many years and knew him to drive a Cadillac like the one seen leaving the scene.
The homicide was one of a number of shooting incidents that occurred in that general area of the city during the summer of 2017.
According to the probable cause affidavit on the aggravated assault, on July 19, 2017, around 2 p.m., Willis Duvall came to the police department to report an incident that allegedly occurred around noon the day before.
Willis Duvall said he was in the 200 block of Pond Street having his vehicle repaired by another man. As the two of them were standing outside, West drove up to the residence in a red Dodge pickup truck. Willis Duvall told police he and West had issues in the past “regarding family members.”
He said West approached him and a minor argument ensued. Willis Duvall said he walked away from West’s vehicle and West “revved his engine” and drove toward Duvall’s vehicle. West allegedly struck Duvall, knocking him to the ground, and then struck Duvall’s vehicle and fled the scene.
Willis Duvall went to CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs for treatment and found he had a fractured ankle.
The other man Willis Duvall had been talking with on Pond Street reportedly confirmed Duvall and West had argued, Duvall walked away and was struck by West’s vehicle, knocking him to the ground.
On April 3, 2018, West’s attorney at the time, Clay Janske, requested a mental evaluation for West to determine his fitness to proceed. On Aug. 20, 2018, West was ruled fit to proceed and the case was continued and reset for trial multiple times before being set for trial today.
A victim impact statement from Sheila Duvall, mother to Derek and Willis Duvall, was entered into the record as part of Monday’s hearing. In the statement, she stated Derek Duvall was “one of the loves of my life” and that Willis Duvall “Thank you God, still is the love of my life.”
She wrote that West “hunted down my son, Willis, and ran him down with his vehicle” and later “sought out my son, Derek, and shot him as he was leaving a gas station.” She said West’s actions were “deliberate and pre-calculated” and that since her son’s death she has had to “watch (West) in court and put up with him smiling at me and his family goading me every time he has been in court.”
She wrote that West “has never shown any remorse or acted as if he even cared about what he did.” She said Willis Duvall was still dealing with the injuries West caused him and because he was with his brother when he was shot he “is having nightmares and depression.”
“Willis and I will never have the opportunity to watch Derek become a father, we will never be able to spend family time with him. We cannot tell him we love him or even fuss at him when he messes up. Lindaniel West took that from us with one shot.”
Sheila Duvall states she is trying to fight against gun violence. “I am trying to reach the young people in our community and teach them to find another way to deal with each other. Violence and drugs are not the answer, never have been and never will be,” she wrote.