A Texas man was sentenced to 17 years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to two armed robberies that occurred in June 2015 involving Hot Springs businesses, including a gas station and a video game store.
Jerry Lee Owens, 42, who has remained in custody since his arrest Dec. 30, 2015, appeared in Garland County Circuit Court with his attorney, William M. Howard Jr., of Pine Bluff, and pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated robbery, punishable by up to life in prison, and was sentenced to 17 years on each count, to run concurrently.
Owens, who lists an Irving, Texas, address, pleaded guilty on Jan. 9 in Saline County to the armed robbery of a Murphy USA gas station in Bryant that occurred on the same day as the gas station robbery in Hot Springs. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison with that sentence to also run concurrently with his sentences in Garland County.
Deputy Prosecutor Kara Petro said Wednesday because of the earlier conviction in Saline County, also involving a violent felony, he will have to serve his sentence "day for day" and will not be eligible for parole after serving 70 percent. She noted he also had two prior felony drug convictions from 1994 classifying him as an habitual offender.
Proceedings in all three cases were delayed after a court-ordered mental evaluation determined on July 29, 2016, that Owens was not fit to proceed with trial. He was committed at that time to the custody of the Arkansas Department of Human Services for treatment and was re-evaluated on Feb. 27 and March 6, 2017. On April 20, 2017, he was ruled fit to proceed.
According to court documents, the subsequent evaluations determined he was malingering or feigning or exaggerating his symptoms and that his main problem was drug abuse, including PCP, marijuana and alcohol.
According to affidavits, on June 10, 2015, shortly after 7 p.m., an unknown black male, later identified as Owens, entered the Game Stop store, 4043 Central Ave., brandished a black semi-automatic handgun to the employee in the store and demanded he be given the money in the cash register.
The employee told Owens he could not open the register without ringing up a transaction, and Owens then handed the employee a CD case to scan. When the register opened, Owens reached in and took $639 and then left the store with it in a Game Stop bag.
Hot Springs police lifted fingerprints from the CD case which were later matched to Owens. The photograph from the surveillance camera at the store was also compared and matched with Owens' Texas ID.
On June 20, 2015, Hot Springs police responded to the Valero, 4751 Central Ave., in reference to a robbery. A store employee said she had been working inside the store when an unknown black male entered and asked about purchasing beer and cigarettes, but left without making a purchase.
The man returned a short time later, and upon reaching the register, placed a small black revolver with a wooden grip on the counter and instructed the employee to open the register. He left the premises with about $75.
Detectives distributed an email to other agencies with the suspect's photo and received multiple replies that the man resembled a person who had committed a similar incident in Bryant earlier that same day. Bryant police noted several similarities regarding the clothing the man wore, his actions in the store, and his physical description.
Fingerprints from the Bryant incident were sent to the crime lab and matched to Owens and Hot Springs police detectives also compared Owens' Texas ID to video from Valero and confirmed it was him.
Local on 02/15/2018