By Ray King
The Arkansas State Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed the life sentence of a Pine Bluff man convicted of capital murder and other offenses stemming from a shooting in 2022.
In his appeal, Deric Smith argued that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of capital murder and prosecutors did not disprove his claim that his actions were justified.
Smith was also convicted of first-degree battery and two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony and sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder, 15-years for the battery and 10 and 5 years on the firearms charges with the sentences to run consecutively.
Smith’s girlfriend, Lamisha Toney was also convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree battery in the incident which occurred April 20, 2022 in the 1700 block of South Cedar Street.
Smith was accused of shooting Emmanuel Foster, who died, and Jason Anderson, who was wounded, while they were riding in Smith’s car, after a scuffle between Anderson and Toney in the car.
He told the police he told Foster, who was driving to stop the car but Foster refused and he shot Foster in the back of the head when the car was headed toward a group of people under a blue canopy.
Smith is serving his sentence at the East Arkansas Regional Unit at Malvern.
