News

SUSPECT CHARGED WITH FIRST DEGREE BATTERY

By John Whipple/LINCOLN COUNTY CORRESPONDENT
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 10:46 PM CDT

STAR CITY — State prosecutors charged Billy Randall Hines, 24, of Gould, with first-degree battery and being a felon in possession of a firearm following a shooting incident July 10.

According to court records, Hines was in the parking lot of the Wilson-Allen Manor at Oklahoma and Madison streets in Gould with Alvin Howard, 54, also of Gould, and some others when Hines suddenly became upset. Hines reportedly shot Howard four times in the lower body before fleeing the scene.

Howard was taken to Delta Memorial Hospital in Dumas and Gould police officers Gary Darrough and William El-Amin searched for Hines. The officers found a 9mm Kel-Tec pistol and a box of ammunition at the Gould residence of one of Hines’ relatives where he was known to stay. Hines turned himself in at the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department July 13 and has been held at the Lincoln County jail on a $50,000 bond since his arrest.

Howard has since been released from the hospital and is “doing fine,” said Gould Police Chief Taivin Collins.

According to Collins, Hines has denied any involvement in the shooting.

In another case, prosecutors charged former Arkansas Department of Correction officer Mindy Griffith, 28, of Star City, with one count of third-degree sexual assault, a Class C felony, and two counts of furnishing prohibited articles into a correctional facility, a Class 8 felony.

A probable cause affidavit by Arkansas State Police Special Agent Roger McLemore says Griffith was working at the Cummins Unit Nov. 9, 2008, at around 12:38 a.m. when ADC Lt. D. Earl allegedly saw Griffith kissing a 27-year-old male inmate.

ADC spokeswoman Dina Tyler said Griffin was driving the ADC pickup truck assigned to patrol around the prison’s fenced perimeter, although she was not actually assigned to the vehicle. However, it is not uncommon for guards to fill in for the guard assigned to the truck so an officer can take a break, Tyler said.

“She had stopped the vehicle and the lieutenant saw her outside the pickup, embracing an inmate, and apparently kissing the inmate,” said Tyler. “The door to the pickup was open and her weapon was in plain sight, And we took issue with all of that.”

Tyler also said the inmate in question was assigned to outside maintenance at the time of the incident and was therefore permitted to be outside which Tyler said is not unusual.

“It wasn’t like the inmate was trying to run away,” Tyler said.

Griffin was fired Nov. 11.

McLemore Interviewed Griffith Feb. 2 and Griffith denied having any sexual contact with the inmate or even touching him. Griffith agreed to take a polygraph test Feb. 11. After taking the test, Griffith wrote a statement in which she reportedly admitted she allowed the inmate to touch her inappropriately “eight to 10 times.”

Print this story   |   Email this story