Formal capital murder charges filed against two men in Feb. 3 shooting

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Two men currently in custody have been formally charged by Miller County prosecutors with capital murder in a fatal shooting Feb. 3 at the Village Park South apartments in Texarkana, Ark.

Keanu White, 22, and Jucquian Tyson, 23, are accused of shooting Phillip Lee, 23, in the course of a robbery.

Lee was found suffering from three gunshot wounds in front of his residence at the Village South Apartments in Texarkana, Ark., on the morning of Feb. 3. He died that afternoon in a local hospital.

According to a probable cause affidavit, investigators believe Lee had been in possession of $3,000 to $4,000 and that the money was stolen from him after he was shot. Lee was shot in his left wrist, his side and in the chest.

Court records show Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Black filed informations Monday charging both White and Tyson with capital murder in Lee’s death.

Bail for both men is set at $500,000. However, even if they could post bond they would not be released because of other pending cases.
Court records show that White was placed on a five-year probation for robbery in October. Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Black filed a motion to revoke White’s probation which is pending.

At the time of the shooting, Tyson was free on a $100,000 bond on a robbery he was arrested for in Miller County last April. A motion to revoke Tyson’s bond in that case was granted.

Records also show that Tyson, White and Lee were once all charged as co-defendants in a case related to the burglary of a local pawn shop but the charges were later dismissed.

If found guilty of capital murder in Lee’s death, Tyson and White face life without parole or death by lethal injection. No announcement has been made by Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Potter Barrett regarding the punishment her office will seek.

Both cases have been assigned to Circuit Judge Kirk Johnson in Miller County.

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