Attempted Capital Murder & Armed Robbery Charges Lead to 30 Year Prison Sentence for Last of Manhunt Suspects
November 22nd, 2012 by
The last of the three Saline County youths accused of the attempted capital murder and aggravated robbery of a Drew County man came to an end, Wednesday morning, when he accepted a plea bargain to spend 30 years in the Arkanas Dept. of Correction (plus 10 years suspended sentence).
In March, the three suspects stole an elderly Drew County man’s truck and gun, before stabbing him and leaving him severly bleeding on a county road, A multi-agency manhunt quickly followed, which included a pack of search dogs from ADC and a helicopter from the Arkansas State Police.
Christopher Darden, of Benton, accepted a guilty plea of a 30 year prison sentence to the charges of attempted capital murder, aggravated robbery, theft of property, and theft by receiving. A maximum sentence of 100 years was possible for all charges.
In July, Blake Smith told the court, “Chris was stabbing him, and I was pushing him out of the truck,” describing the events of March 15, that almost took the life a 77 year old Lacey man. Smith was sentenced to 25 years in prison, followed by 15 more years, suspended.
Haley Thompson also entered a guilty plea, to a reduced charges of robbery. Thompson admitted to the court that she was present when they stole a car in Saline County, by force, before coming to Drew County. She also admitting that the three planned the attack on Bobby Strickland, when he returned to their broken down car to help them. She then admitted that as he lay bleeding in the roadway, she was moving stolen items and alcohol from their stolen vehicle, into his truck. Thompson was sentenced to 121 months, with an additional 119 months suspended.
On November 6, Darden pled guilty to the “car-jacking” of a Benton county woman’s vehicle, where the three suspects choked her. This sentence will run concurrently with the Drew County sentence.
Darden’s charges for the assault of three White River Correctional officers is still pending.
Darden will have to serve 70% of the Drew County sentence (21 years) before being eligible for parole.
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Boy just a smiling! Momma must be proud.
he be smilin, cause he know he be out in about 2 years probably, way our justice system now works.
These thugs will be back out on the streets to do more damage, faster than it will take the paper work to go through. The Justice system in Drew County is pitiful!
that is great, bobby.was a nice guy
I’d like to slap that smile right off his face.
Dragonheart say’s “Momma must be proud.”
Are you, momma’s to all of these thugs, proud??!!
Mr Bobby was HELPING them and this is what he gets in return??!!
Buncha’ heartless thugs. I hope and Pray they DON’T get out for 30 years. They are ruthless. When they are released they will be worse. ‘Correction’ centers don’t correct peoples behavior. They make them worse. Keep them behind bars until they are too old to hurt people and commit crimes. They have no heart which makes them very dangerous.
eye for an eye.
Makes me sick, literally. My sweet daddy was an elderly man who would give the shirt off his back to help anyone. God really will need to help them; He’s the only one who can!
Don’t blame the Mommas of these kids they made the choice to live the life of crime not the parents fault, so you tell me at what point do the parents to these kids stop taking responsibility for what their children do, 15, 16 , 21, 25, 30, when. They made the choice not the parents you can teach them right from wrong but it all still falls on the person who made the choice, everybody knows right from wrong even if they are from a broken family, would you be blaming yourself if it had been your kids that done this crime or would you let them take responsibility for their own actions.
Actually its almost 2 years later and he is still locked up in ADC. So for you saying he would be out and that why he is smiling well looks like you got it all wrong. For 2 I know this kid. I dated his older brother back probably 3 or 4 years before this happened. Dont blame the mother because guess what, he didnt even have a mother… They lived with the father their whole lives…