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MURDER VERDICTS APPEALED

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Friday, August 26, 2005 8:34 AM CDT

Two defendants convicted of murder in Jefferson County Circuit Court in July have appealed their convictions to the Arkansas Court of Appeals.

Pine Bluff attorney Gene McKissic filed a notice of appeal for Ricky Smith, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the March 14, 2003, slaying of 19-year-old Nicole Sharpe. Smith was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Also appealing her conviction was Rebecca Baker Jackson, who was convicted of first-degree murder on July 21 in the slaying of three-year-old Ari'yanna Jackson. A jury deliberated about three hours before sentencing Baker Jackson to 20 years in prison.

In the notice filed Wednesday, McKissic said Smith was appealing not only the jury verdict but also the decision by Judge Berlin Jones to deny a motion to dismiss the charges for violation of Arkansas' speedy trial laws.

State law requires that people charged with a crime be brought to trial within 12 months of the time the charges were filed.

Smith was originally charged in Sharpe's death in March 2003 but those charges were dismissed in October 2003 after prosecutors said they felt the evidence wasn't strong enough to convict at that time.

He was charged a second time in February 2005 after an investigation by the Arkansas State Police who took over the case at the request of the Sheriff's Department.

During the trial, a witness said she saw Smith grab Sharpe by the throat and push her against a wall after saying that Sharpe had "taken some of his cocaine."

Associate State Medical Examiner Dr. Frank Peretti, who performed the autopsy on Sharpe, said her death was the result of manual strangulation.

At a hearing last Friday, Circuit Judge Rob Wyatt Jr. revoked a $75,000 appeal bond for Smith and ordered him to begin serving his sentence after ruling that Smith had failed to abide by conditions set by a home monitoring company which included taking the most direct routes to and from appointments with a doctor or the monitoring company.

Meanwhile, Little Rock attorney Tom Devine filed the appeal for Baker Jackson, who had been charged in the death of the toddler after an investigation by police detectives.

The toddler, who was called "Ari," was pronounced dead at Arkansas Children's Hospital at Little Rock on July 14, 2004, after being flown from Jefferson Regional Medical Center when X-rays determined she had severe head injuries.

State Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Kokes said the death was caused by severe injuries to the head and brain.

At the time of the child's death, Baker Jackson was the live-in girlfriend of Charles Jackson, the father of the toddler. The two married in October 2004.

During her trial, Baker Jackson claimed the toddler fell off a bicycle and then was pushed off the bike a second time by another child. She said she didn't see the incidents but was told about them.

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