Man charged second time in 2017 death

Perry
Perry

Hot Springs police said Friday that a new murder charge has been filed in connection with an April 2017 homicide against a local man who had been arrested once before in the case on a murder charge that was later withdrawn.

Demetrius Tyree Perry, 21, who was already in the custody of the Arkansas Department of Correction on unrelated charges, was charged Friday with first-degree murder, punishable by up to life in prison, for the shooting death of Charles David Hill, 32, on April 5, 2017, at Third and Garens streets in Hot Springs.

Perry was previously charged with second-degree murder, punishable by up to 30 years, but the charge was withdrawn by prosecutors on June 9, 2017, "for further investigation." A warrant for Perry's arrest on the new charge was issued June 7, according to court documents.

A gag order limiting pretrial publicity in the case was issued Tuesday by Garland County Circuit Court Judge John Homer Wright. Perry is being held on $100,000 bond and is set to appear Monday in circuit court.

According to the probable cause affidavit, on April 5, 2017, Hot Springs police officers responded to the intersection of Third and Garens Street around 10:30 p.m. in reference to a man screaming for help and located Hill lying on Garens Street with a single gunshot wound to the left side of his abdomen. Hill was transported by LifeNet to CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs, where he later died.

About 15 minutes earlier, police had responded to a single-vehicle accident in the 600 block of Higdon Ferry Road and found an unoccupied white Honda Accord off the roadway with damage to the front end. Officers noted large amounts of blood covering the driver's seat and smeared on the outside of the driver's door. A handgun and spent shell casing were in plain view inside and a felony amount of illegal controlled substances were found at the scene.

Witnesses stated they saw a black male wearing bluejeans and a dark shirt exit the driver's seat of the vehicle and flee the scene.

Police were later notified a man with a gunshot wound to his right arm, identified as Perry, had arrived at Baptist Medical Center in Malvern. Perry reportedly told Malvern police he had shot himself while in Hot Springs. It was noted his clothing matched the description of the man who fled the accident scene.

Malvern police said Perry had arrived at the hospital with his sister, 27, who was the registered owner of the wrecked Honda Accord.

HSPD Detective Blake Haynie spoke with Perry at the hospital and he reportedly initially stated he was picked up by his sister in the area of Akers Road and taken to the hospital. He later reportedly admitted he lied and that she had picked him up at an apartment complex off Higdon Ferry.

He allegedly stated he was in Hot Springs and got into an argument with another male, later identified as Hill, over a gun and drugs. He said that during the argument the gun went off, firing a bullet through his arm and into Hill's torso. He also reportedly admitted the incident occurred inside his sister's car which he was driving that night.

Evidence was collected at both scenes and a number of items sent to the state crime lab in Little Rock.

"Based upon the collected evidence and resulting laboratory analysis, Demetrius Perry caused the death of Charles Hill under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life by inflicting a fatal gunshot wound in the course of and in furtherance of a felony drug transaction," the affidavit states.

Local on 06/16/2018

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