Most Arkansas inmates to be executed in April committed sexual assault

Editor’s note: This is the second of two stories of Arkansas murder cases involving eight of the men originally set for execution. The information was gleaned from court documents, police reports and published accounts. Some details are graphic. Link here for the first article.
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Lacy Phillips was about to endure a dentist appointment, something most 11-year-old girls dread. Her sister, Darla, dropped her off June 6, 1995, at the Automated Tax and Accounting Service in Bald Knob. Their mother, Mary Phillips, worked as a bookkeeper. Her appointment was at 3 p.m.

They never arrived.

Before leaving the tax service office, a dark-haired man entered the building. He had come into the business earlier that day and asked to borrow some tax information books. Jack Jones Jr., with a teardrop tattoo on his face, looked intently at mother and daughter. He complained he’d received the wrong books. The situation immediately turned violent.

“Sorry … I’m going to have to rob you,” he said.

Jones told Mary to lie on her stomach, and he told Lacy to lie on top of her mother. He took the money out of the cash register. Mother and daughter were ordered into the break room. He took Lacy into the bathroom and tied her to a chair.

Mary’s hands were tied with wire. Jones wrapped a coffee pot cord around her neck, and violently raped her. She died from strangulation and blunt force trauma. When Jones returned to the bathroom, Lacy begged him to not hurt her mother.

“I’m not … I’m here to hurt you,” he told the girl.

He strangled Lacy until she fell unconscious. He beat her head with the butt of a BB gun. Jones left the business thinking the girl was dead. When police arrived they thought she was dead, too. A photographer was taking pictures when Lacy suddenly awoke. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, and her life was saved. She was able to identify Jones as their attacker.

Jones admitted to police he was involved. He told them he attacked the mother and daughter because he was mad at police. His own wife had been raped, and the police did nothing, he said. It was the justification he used to kill Mary Phillips and injure Lacy Phillips. He was convicted and sentenced to death.

He is one of eight men Gov. Asa Hutchinson scheduled for execution in April. The governor hopes to execute the men during a 10 day period, an unprecedented number of executions in such a short timeframe, according to experts. One of the men, Jason McGehee had an injunction filed in his case, and it’s unlikely he will be executed.

The six other men slated for execution – Don Davis, Bruce Ward, Stacey Johnson, Ledell Lee, Marcel Williams, and Kenneth Williams – have also asked courts to stay their executions. At this point, there is nothing stopping the state from killing these convicted murderers.

Jones’ lawyers and relatives have claimed through the years he suffers from depression and was abused both physically and sexually as a child. He was addicted to alcohol and drugs, and in 2003 he was convicted of the 1991 murder of a woman in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Days after his conviction in the Phillips case, he asked the judge to “kill him immediately.” His attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig of Little Rock, told the Arkansas Parole Board his client would not accept clemency if it were offered. He wants to die, and he keeps a picture of Lacy Phillips battered body in his cell as a reminder of what he did, according to numerous published reports.

“I keep it so I would never forget to remember,” the 52-year-old said.

• Bruce Ward
Rebecca Doss often went to work with her bible in hand. The 18-year-old was fearful working the late-night shift at the Jackpot convenience store on Rodney Parham Drive in Little Rock. Bruce Ward, a man who had already been convicted of the 1977 of the voluntary manslaughter of Janet Needham in Erie, Penn., roamed the streets near the store Aug. 11, 1989.

At a local bowling alley parking lot, he approached two women and asked them if they wanted to buy some perfume. He sold it from his side bag on his motorcycle. One woman agreed. Her asked her if she would have sex with him, and in return, he would give her a case of perfume. She refused. Other women reported to police they had been approached by a man similar in appearance to Ward in the days leading up to that night, according to a report in the Arkansas Democrat.

Doss was in the store when Ward entered the building. No one knows for sure if he lured her to the men’s restroom or if he forced her.

Little Rock police officer Michael Middleton was cruising the area near Jackpot when he noticed something strange. The store was open, but no attendant was present. He stopped. Just as he arrived, Ward exited the men’s restroom. He told the officer he came into the store and Doss sold him hot chocolate. His motorcycle was only a few feet away from where the men talked. A second officer arrived.

Doss’ body was found in the bathroom. She had been strangled, and it appeared Doss tried to sexually assault her. She fought her attacker, and in the struggle he killed her.

Ward, 60, is slated to be executed to be executed April 17. His case has attracted controversy. Ward suffers from schizophrenia, and is incompetent to be executed, a recently filed lawsuit argues. Ward believes he is part of a “grand conspiracy” with players from multiple states. He thinks that supernatural forces have aligned to kidnap and incapacitate him in order to stifle his own super powers and greatness. He thinks he will someday walk out of prison and riches and fame will be awaiting him. He thinks a Hollywood movie will also be made about him.

His delusions have impacted his ability to help his legal counsel through the years, and federal law requires him to be mentally fit in order to be executed, the suit argues.

• Ledell Lee
Debra Reese was curling her hair mid-morning at her home on Cherry Street in Jacksonville on Feb. 9, 1993, when there was a knock at the door. A stranger wanted to borrow some tools. Reese, 26, only had a tire tool her husband left to protect her when he was out of town. She told the man she didn’t have any tools.

She called her mother who lived only five houses away. Reese was scared. She told her mother, Katherine Williams, that she “didn’t trust this guy.” Reese promised her mother she would come to her house once she was done curling her hair.

Reese never talked to her mother again.

The stranger, Ledell Lee, returned and broke into Reese’s home moments later. A neighbor, Andy Gomez watched Lee enter the home, and leave about 20 minutes later. In the interim, Lee took the tire iron and struck Reese 36 times. He stole $300 from her purse. He had just been released from jail on a burglary charge.

Gomez was suspicious and tailed Lee when he left the Reese house. He used the stolen money to pay several debts that afternoon, including one owed to a nearby Rent-A-Center. Lee was arrested and charged with capital murder. He was convicted and sentenced to death.

Lee had been previously convicted on two separate rape charges, and may have been involved in the murder of a Jacksonville-area prostitute whose body was dumped in a shed next to some railroad tracks. He is also the prime suspect in the abduction, rape, and murder of 22-year-old Christine Lewis in November 1989 in Jacksonville. Lewis was in her home when Lee broke in and abducted her. Lewis’s 3-year-old child watched as the abduction took place. Her body was found days later in the closet of an abandoned house. She had been raped and strangled.

DNA linked Lee to the rapes and murders. Prosecutors declined to pursue murder charges in the Lewis case after the Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed his death sentence in the Reese case. Lee’s execution date is set for April 20.

• Marcel Williams
Stacy Errickson, 22, decided to drive herself to work and the decision cost the mother of two her life. Errickson usually car-pooled with a friend, but on Nov. 20, 1994 she drove her own vehicle. She stopped at a Jacksonville-area gas station. A man approached. Two other women would later tell police about the same man menacing them around the same time.

Marcel Williams brandished a firearm and made Errickson move to the passenger seat. They stopped at ATM machines and he forced her to withdraw $350. Errickson never arrived at work. The last attempted transaction was at 7:37 a.m. She never picked her children up from the babysitter.

Her body was found in a shallow grave at a nearby park almost a month later. She’d been raped and strangled. Williams was initially interviewed by police Nov. 29, 1994, more than two weeks before her body was found. He admitted to police he abducted her, but told them he only robbed her. As far as he knew she was still alive, and he didn’t sexually assault her.

After her body was found, he was charged with capital murder, robbery, and rape. He was convicted. Williams, now 46, was sentenced to death. For years, attorneys have argued he should have only received a life term.

Jurors were never told about his violent upbringing. Mitigating factors, such as abuse a defendant might have endured as an adolescent, must be considered by jurors, according to legal precedent. His original attorneys never brought up the fact that he’d been sexually and physically abused to the jury.

Williams’ execution is slated for April 24.