Parole Being Considered For Teen Convicted Of Killing An ASU Professor
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
A lawyer for 17-year-old Kirk Otis,
convicted of the death of an Arkansas State University professor,
says the teenager should be given parole because he has served
enough time and behaved well during his incarceration.
Otis was 14 when he was arrested in the July 20th, 2001,
shooting death of 49-year-old Barney Smith. Smith taught at ASU
in Jonesboro and also was an Arkansas National Guard lieutenant
colonel. He was robbed and shot on the front porch of his mother`s
home in Stuttgart.
Though charged with capital murder, Otis was convicted of
manslaughter earlier this year and sentenced by a judge to ten
years in prison after the jury couldn`t decide on a sentence. The
judge also gave Otis credit for almost three years he waited in a
juvenile detention center to go on trial while lawyers argued over
whether he should be tried as an adult.
At a hearing earlier this month, members of Smith`s family, a
juror from the trial and the Arkansas County prosecutor urged
parole board members to keep Otis in prison.
The Post-Prison Transfer Board is to announce a decision on
Otis` parole next Tuesday.
