A new trial is scheduled for Vance Allen Brown, a Miller County capital murder defendant. At a status conference on Tuesday, 8th South Circuit Judge Wren Autrey set an August 4 pretrial hearing for Brown, with the trial scheduled for August 31.

Background

Brown is accused in the August 14, 2022, shooting death of Bonderick Nard, 27, at Nard’s home on Edwards Street in Texarkana, Arkansas. Brown testified that he lived at the house and that he and Nard sold drugs from the house. He denied telling a cellmate that he killed Nard for “snitching.”

Brown’s attorney, Lee Short, argued that the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department focused on Brown and ignored any information that did not align with their investigation. Prosecutor Connie Mitchell described the shooting as premeditated and carried out by someone close to Nard.

Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.