arkansas | My Crime Library

Karl Roberts Arkansas Death Row

Karl Roberts was sentenced to death by the State of Arkansas for the kidnapping and sexual assault of a twelve year old girl. According to court documents in 2000 Karl Roberts would kidnap his twelve year old niece who was brutally sexually assaulted before being murdered. Karl Roberts would leave the child’s body in a forest in Western Arkansas. Karl Roberts was convicted and sentenced to death.

Arkansas Death Row Inmate List

Karl Roberts 2021 Information

ADC Number 000956

Name: Roberts, Karl D

Race CAUCASIAN Sex MALE Hair Color BROWN Eye Color BLUE

Height 68 inches Weight 159 lbs.Birth Date 03/06/1968

Initial Receipt Date 05/24/2000

Facility Varner Supermax

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Rebecca Petty’s daughter Andi Brewer would have been 32 this year had she not been snatched away by her own uncle who lured her away from her Arkansas rural home, raped her and strangled her till she bit her tongue in half before her death.

At the age of 12, Andi Brewer was kidnapped by Karl Roberts, who was then 32. On May 24, 2000, Roberts was sentenced to death for kidnapping, raping and strangling Andi to death. But 20 years later, he still remains of death row.

Andi was killed in a forest near Mena in western Arkansas. In December 2014, Petty’s former husband Gregory Brewer (at the time of her daughter’s murder, Petty was already divorced from Brewer) of Mena physically attacked Roberts in one of the courtroom proceedings.

Roberts had sought to waive his constitutional rights and accept the death penalty—this prompted his attorneys to contend that he is not mentally competent to waive his post-conviction rights.

In a chilling account, he had confessed in detail to the police the atrocities he committed on the young girl and how he killed his 12-year-old niece.

He described how he told Andi “I’m gonna f*** you” before he stripped and raped her. Then he “started choking her and mashing my thumbs on her throat” until she turned blue. Later, he hid her naked body in woodland, got rid of her clothes and fled the scene.

Now, Petty has had enough. Slamming the “disgusting” system that continues to keep Roberts alive two decades since his horrendous crime, she revealed the horrific details of Andi’s murder to Sun Online. “Roberts confessed he did it, but he’s been on death row for 20 years.”

“It was a heinous thing Roberts did,” she recalls. “Andi was a little kid and she was scared and wanted to go home. When she was assaulted and brutally raped, she bit her tongue in half. That’s pretty wrong… But that’s the truth.”

Despite the despair and anguish, Petty remembers her daughter with love.

She was just 16 when she gave birth to Andi, calling her ‘Andit Bandit’ fondly. Born in April 1987, Petty recalls how “she had the prettiest hands I’d ever seen, they were so dainty”. Andi was funny, strong-willed and a mischevious child, her mother recalls.

But, at the age of ten, she decided she wanted to live with her father Greg, who had just had a new baby with his wife, as she wanted to spend more time with her baby brother. “I just want to move to Arkansas so I can spend time with my new baby brother,” she had told her mother.

Her mother eventually relented and let her go. A year and a half later, she received a phone call on May 15, 1999, giving her the shocking news that Andi had vanished while babysitting her stepsiblings.

When Rebecca got there, the police, neighbours and relatives were already present. But one presence that Petty found off was of Roberts.

“I’ll never ever forget seeing him. When he saw me, he just started talking. I thought it was strange how he was explaining why he was there, but I was so caught up in being concerned about Andi, it didn’t register.” Roberts even pretended to help in the search for Andi.

Soon after, he was identified as a suspect and confessed to killing Andi.

Petty recalls it being “another punch to the stomach” when the local sheriff broke the news that Andi was raped.

Petty is now writing an online book about Andi’s painful story titled ‘Stolen’. Andi’s sisters Melanie and Kristin are now aged 30 and 24. Petty is married to her third husband William and has two grandchildren. “My life certainly isn’t hanging on the moment Roberts takes his last breath. I’m living my life and, despite it all, I have a beautiful life.”

https://meaww.com/karl-roberts-sexual-abuse-murder-niece-andi-brewer-alive-well-20-years-after-conviction

Alvin Jackson Arkansas Death Row

Alvin Jackson was sentenced to death by the State of Arkansas for the murder of a correctional guard. According to court documents Alvin Jackson was serving a life sentence for one count of capital murder and two counts of attempted murder. Alvin Jackson who is now known as Rahman X was involved in an argument with the correctional guard before he stabbed him with a metal shank. Alvin Jackson was convicted and sentenced to death

Arkansas Death Row Inmate List

Alvin Jackson 2021 Information

ADC Number 000941

Name:Jackson/X, Alvin/ Rahman

Race BLACK Sex MALE Hair Color BLACK Eye Color BROWN Height69 inches Weight 190 lbs.

Birth Date 06/30/1970

Initial Receipt Date 04/29/1988

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A Little Rock man on death row for the slaying of a prison guard in Pine Bluff is entitled to a new hearing on his claim that he is mentally retarded, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

An attorney for condemned killer Alvin Bernal Jackson said the hearing may be delayed because of a pending appeal in a similar case.

Jackson was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1996 in the November 1995 stabbing death of Sgt. Scott Grimes, 41, at the Department of Correction’s Tucker Unit. At the time, Jackson was serving life in prison without parole in the 1990 slaying of Little Rock businessman Charles R. Colclasure, 47.

During the federal appeals process, Jackson, 37, asked for a hearing to present evidence to show that he is mentally retarded. He cited a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that executing mentally retarded people violated the Eighth Amendment protection from cruel and unusual punishment.

A federal judge refused to grant Jackson’s request, finding that he did not argue mental retardation as a defense at his trial and therefore could not make the argument on appeal.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis reversed the lower court ruling Tuesday and sent the case back U.S. District Court in Little Rock for an evidentiary hearing.

The appeals court cited its recent ruling in a another death penalty case to explain its ruling in Jackson’s case. The court ruled in June that convicted murderer Sedrice Maurice Simpson, also known as Sedric Simpson, 35, of Dallas County, was entitled to a new hearing on his claim of mental retardation, even though he did not present a defense of mental retardation at trial.

The court found that Simpson was raising a “previously unavailable federal claim” based on the Supreme Court’s 2002 decision, which did not exist at the time of Simpson’s trial. That Simpson could have argued mental retardation as a defense under Arkansas law but did not do so at his trial was irrelevant, the court said.

The state is appealing the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. Jackson’s attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig of Little Rock, said Tuesday he anticipates the state will move for a delay of Jackson’s evidentiary hearing, pending the outcome of state’s appeal in the Simpson case.

Roderick Rankin Arkansas Death Row

Roderick Rankin was sentenced to death by the State of Arkansas for three murders. According to court documents Roderick Rankin would murder his ex girlfriend sister, her mother and stepfather for ending their relationship. Roderick Rankin would be convicted and sentenced to death.

Arkansas Death Row Inmate List

Roderick Rankin 2021 Information

ADC Number 000939

Name:Rankin, Roderick L

Race BLACK Sex MALE Hair Color BLACK Eye Color BROWN Height73 inches Weight 329 lbs.

Birth Date 11/18/1975 Initial Receipt Date 02/13/1996

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The facts surrounding this case are laid out in detail in Rankin I. The murders occurred in the early morning hours of December 27, 1994. Based on the statement of Mr. Rankin’s girlfriend, Sonyae Reynolds ¹ , who was hiding in a closet at the victims’ home during the attack, Mr. Rankin became the prime suspect in the murders. According to Ms. Reynolds, Mr. Rankin had repeatedly threatened to kill her and her family if she left him. Moreover, she believed the assailant was Mr. Rankin because the assailant was wearing clothing similar to clothing worn by Mr. Rankin. During the police interrogation, the investigating officers asked Mr. Rankin if he had kicked in the door of the victims’ house and shot the victims. They also asked him if he had experienced problems with Sonyae Reynolds; whether such problems led him to commit the murders; whether he was wearing blue shoes on the morning of the murders; and whether he had seen blood on the shoes. Finally, they asked him whether the gun that they had shown him was the murder weapon and whether he placed it at the location where it was discovered. Mr. Rankin’s response to each of these questions was a simple, “Yes, sir.” He told the officers that he saw Zena Reynolds and her children on the couch when he first entered the house. It was at this point that he started shooting. According to Mr. Rankin, he shot Zena Reynolds first and then shot Ernestine Halford and Nathaniel Halford. Although Mr. Rankin knew Sonyae Reynolds was also in the house, he got scared and left.

The jury convicted Mr. Rankin of three counts of capital murder.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ar-supreme-court/1363363.html

Terrick Nooner Arkansas Death Row

Terrick Nooner was sentenced to death by the State of Arkansas for the murder of a man in Little Rock. According to court reports the victim, Scot Stobaugh, entered a laundromat where he was ambushed. The man was shot several times and died from his injuries. Police would later learn from a friend of Terrick Nooner that he was responsible for the brutal murder. Terrick Nooner would be convicted and sentenced to death.

Arkansas Death Row Inmate List

Terrick Nooner 2021 Information

ADC Number 000926

Name: Nooner, Terrick

Race BLACK Sex MALE Hair Color BLACK Eye Color BROWN

Height 69 inches Weight 252 lbs.

Birth Date 03/17/1971

Initial Receipt Date 09/02/1987

Facility Varner Supermax

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On March 16, 1993, at approximately 1:30 a.m. Scot Stobaugh entered the FunWash laundromat on West Markham Street in Little Rock to do laundry. While there, he was shot seven times and died of multiple gunshot wounds. He was found lying face down on the laundromat floor in a pool of blood. Subsequent examination showed that he was shot twice in the upper right arm and five times in the back in what later were described as contact wounds. Seven .22 caliber shell casings were found on the floor close to the body together with a tan hat, keys, and a jar of Carmex lip salve. His Chevrolet Beretta was parked in the laundromat’s parking area unlocked, with its parking lights on, and with keys in the ignition. A ring and a neck band remained on the victim’s body.

The FunWash laundromat had three surveillance cameras in operation at the time of the shooting which recorded on one VHS videotape. The general manager of the business, Janie White, helped investigating police *681 officers from the Little Rock Police Department retrieve the videotape. The videotape depicted Stobaugh and a second person accosting him in the laundromat. It did not show the actual murder.

Detective Joe Oberle, a homicide detective with the Little Rock Police Department, took possession of the videotape and had still photographs made from the frames that included the victim and the suspect. Detective Oberle used several private firms in Little Rock to enhance the tape in order to obtain the clearest still picture possibleColor Masters, Camera Mart, and Jones Productions. In four of the enhanced photographs, the victim’s face was “mosaicked out” at the request of his family and one of those photographs was given to the news media to assist in the investigation. Rick Adcock with the Little Rock Police Department Crime Scene Search Unit also made still photographs from the videotape.

Ron Andrejack, the firearms examiner for the State Crime Laboratory, examined the bullets and shell casings found at the crime scene and determined that five of the seven bullets were fired by the same firearm. The other two bullets were too damaged for any conclusion to be reached. He further determined that all seven shell casings were fired from the same gun. By examining the various marks on the bullets and shell casings, he ultimately concluded that the characteristics on the bullets and shell casings were consistent with a .22 long rifle Ruger semi-automatic pistol.

In a matter of days, the police investigation centered on Nooner due in large part to statements given to Detective Oberle by Antonia “Toni” Kennedy, a friend of Nooner’s. Antonia Kennedy is the sister of Jazmar Kennedy, who identified Nooner in the surveillance photographs at trial, and the sister of Terri Kennedy, who was Nooner’s girlfriend at the time of the trial and who testified as a defense witness. Antonia Kennedy implicated Nooner in the FunWash shooting and subsequently testified at trial that on the morning after the shooting Nooner told her that he had murdered Scot Stobaugh after demanding money from him. She added that she had seen Nooner with a .22 Ruger pistol that day and had kept the gun for Nooner for a brief period of time. Nooner was arrested on April 23, 1993, and charged with capital murder, aggravated robbery, and theft of property.

On September 20, 1993, a seven-day trial commenced. Nooner was convicted of capital felony murder with aggravated robbery and theft of property as the underlying felonies. After the penalty phase of the trial, the jury found two aggravating circumstances: (1) that Nooner had previously committed another felony, an element of which was the use or threat of violence; and (2) that the murder was committed for pecuniary gain. The jury found no mitigating circumstances and returned a verdict of death by lethal injection

https://law.justia.com/cases/arkansas/supreme-court/2005/cr94-358-361.html

Ray Dansby Arkansas Death Row

Ray Dansby was sentenced to death by the State of Arkansas for the murders of his ex wife and her boyfriend. According to court documents Ray Dansby went over to his ex wives home and waited for her to return from the store. When she pulled in the driveway she was confronted by Ray Dansby who would shoot her in the neck and in the head. Ray Dansby then went into her home and shot her boyfriend who was asleep on the couch. Ray Dansby would be convicted and sentenced to death for the two murders

Arkansas Death Row Inmate List

Ray Dansby 2021 Information

ADC Number 000925

Name: Dansby, Ray

Race BLACKSex MALE Hair Color BALD Eye Color BROWN

Height 74 inches Weight 322 lbs.Birth Date 03/03/1960

Initial Receipt Date 06/17/1993

Facility Varner Supermax

Ray Dansby More News

The facts as related by the various witnesses are these. On the morning of August 24, 1992, Brenda Dansby left her residence at 1402 North Roselawn in El Dorado to go to the store to get her eight-year-old son, Justin, some orange juice, as he was sick with a cold. Brenda’s boyfriend, Ronnie Kimble, was sleeping on a couch in the living room, while Justin was seated in a red chair in the same room watching television. According to Justin, his father, Appellant Ray Dansby, came around the side of the house to the front yard as his mother was pulling up into their driveway in her car. Ray ordered her to get out of the car twice before she complied. Justin looked out the screen door and watched as his father “had my mother *334 like a shield” then “shot [her] in the arm and then in the neck.” Ray then came in the house, and, according to Justin, it was after Ray shot Ronnie in the chest that Ronnie got his gun, which was located underneath the couch, and positioned himself behind it. Justin had returned to his seat on the red chair, and “was afraid I was going to get shot so I lifted my feet up.” Justin further testified that he heard “clicking noises” and that Ronnie shot his gun, but that, to his knowledge, the weapon never did fire. Ray then chased Ronnie through a straight hallway to Justin’s room in the back of the house, and thereafter, Justin heard about five more shots. It was Justin’s testimony that he retreated to his mother’s room to see what had happened, and saw his father standing by Ronnie, observed him kick Ronnie twice, and heard Ray say something to him, though he could not remember what it was. As Justin exited the house, he saw his mother, who “had blood all over her neck” and “wasn’t moving.” He then left with his father, and the two walked down the road, and when they separated, Justin called the police from another residence.

Greg Riggins, Brenda’s neighbor who lived across the street, testified that he was in bed when he heard shots, at which time he jumped up and went to his front door, where he witnessed Brenda and Ray struggling with a revolver. He watched as Ray, who was standing directly behind Brenda, hit her in the back with his fist, knocking her down into the corner of the house. According to Mr. Riggins, Ray got the gun away from Brenda, stood two or three feet away from her, and shot two rounds consecutively, knocking her flat on the ground. As Brenda tried to sit up, Ray discharged another shot, which Mr. Riggins believed missed Brenda. It was Mr. Riggins testimony that “then after maybe five or six seconds he paused and the next shot went off. I assume he hit her in the head and her head launched and she went flat.” Mr. Riggins stated that Justin was standing by the second post at the front of the house and witnessed his mother’s murder. He further testified that, while he did not see any shots coming from the house, Ray ducked and hesitated before firing a shot, then went into the house after someone inside.

Several El Dorado police officers were dispatched to the residence at approximately 8:28 a.m., one of whom was Officer Larry Weaver. He arrived at the scene to find Brenda’s body outside, and Ronnie injured on the floor in the back bedroom, who was attempting to crawl and had a .38 automatic pistol laying under him which was jammed and opened where it would not work. Ronnie died several days later at an area hospital, after telling Detective Carolyn Dykes that Ray had shot him.

Shortly thereafter, Officer Mike Stegall located Ray walking on a nearby street, at which point Ray flagged him down, stating that “I’m Ray Dansby, ya’ll are looking for me.” When Officer Stegall inquired as to whether he had any guns on him, Ray replied that he had thrown them away. After being transported to the police station, Ray was verbally advised of his rights by Lieutenant Mike Hill, then stated that he left the scene with a .32 revolver and a .38 revolver, which he threw away where officers would never find them. Ray further stated to the officers that he took the weapons to Brenda’s residence because he knew that she had a .38 and that Ronnie had a handgun of some type. According to Ray, upon his arrival at the residence, he walked in the front door, where he was met by Ronnie, who was holding a handgun in his right hand “pointed down.” After an argument or discussion erupted, Ray said, “I just pulled my gun and started shooting.” After making these statements and submitting to a gunshot residue test, Ray signed a written rights waiver form, but refused to give a taped statement.

Lt. Hill stated that he was present when a.38 Interarms blue steel revolver was recovered under a manhole cover in the bottom of a drainage ditch on a street approximately three to four blocks from Brenda’s residence. At the time of recovery, the weapon, which was registered to Brenda, had five expended cartridge cases in the cylinder.

Sergeant Ricky Roberts testified that, along with a set of car keys, a purse, and a gun carrying case, four .32 caliber live rounds of ammunition were found under *335 Brenda’s body. Additionally, seven rounds of .38 caliber ammunition were laying around her body, and another .38 round was found on the porch. Inside, Sgt. Roberts stated that there was blood behind and on the back of the couch in the living room, as well as on a dress on an ironing board and on some houseshoes which were both located behind the couch. A silver-tipped round .38 bullet was also recovered from behind the couch, similar to two rounds found in the clip and the one jammed inside the .38 Colt automatic which was recovered near Ronnie, but different from the other .38 rounds recovered.

https://law.justia.com/cases/arkansas/supreme-court/1995/cr-94-30-1.html