Free Republic

OKLAHOMA CITY — A lawyer for a pharmacist charged with killing a teenage would-be robber blasted the leak of a confidential psychologist's report that portrays the dead youth's accomplice in the robbery attempt as a victim instead of a criminal. "This is another release to the press that is essentially trying to say 'poor young man,'" lawyer Irven Box told The Associated Press on Sunday. "It could prejudice a jury in this case to thinking that someone with an IQ of 72 is actually the victim." Box represents pharmacist Jerome Ersland, who faces a first-degree murder charge accusing him of...

Pastors, police plead for tip on NLR killing Salvation Army slaying reward at $10,000 JACOB QUINN SANDERS ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Pastors, police and politicians begged and pleaded Monday for information about the unsolved Christmas Eve killing of a Salvation Army major in North Little Rock’s Baring Cross neighborhood. “I’m asking the community to start snitching,” said the Rev. Benny Johnson, founder of the Little Rock-based group Stop the Violence, during an afternoon news conference at the Salvation Army Corps and Community Center at 1505 W. 18th St. where Philip Wise was shot just after 4 p.m. on Dec. 24. The longer...

LITTLE ROCK — Salvation Army Maj. Phillip Wise had Christmas plans. All he had to do was drop off the Christmas Eve donations at the Salvation Army headquarters in North Little Rock, pick up his wife, Cindy, who also is a Salvation Army major and was in the building waiting on him, and head home, to West Virginia, for the holidays. His three young children — 4, 6 and 8 — were with him. Then the unthinkable happened. Wise was robbed at gunpoint and as his children watched. He was then shot and bled to death in the parking lot...

‘Work is not done,’ widow says Wife of Salvation Army pastor speaks of prayer for his killer EVIN DEMIREL ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Leading a Sunday service in the building where her husband was shot and killed in a Christmas Eve robbery attempt, Salvation Army Major Cindy Wise said her mission to minister to the people in North Little Rock’s Baring Cross neighborhood has not changed. “I believe I have peace today because I know the work is not done here yet,” Wise told nearly 50 people on Sunday. Standing before the congregation in her navy blue uniform, she said she will...

Salvation Army major shot dead in front of 3 children By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette A Salvation Army major was fatally shot in front of his three children Thursday afternoon as he walked into the the organization's community center in North Little Rock, authorities said. Around 4 p.m., two black men dressed in black approached Philip Wise, 40, of Maumelle outside the community center at 1505 W. 18th St., Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper said. Wise’ children — ages 4, 6, and 8 — were walking with him when the men came up to them, police said. His wife, Cindy, also...