JONESBORO, Ark. – A teenager accused of murdering a girl will face a first degree murder charge instead of a capital murder charge, the prosecutor said.
Austin Dalton Ivy, 16, was first arrested for capital murder in the March death of Alicia “Bird” Carr, 21. District Prosecutor Scott Ellington made the decision Ivy would be charged as an adult, due to the circumstances. Even so, the death penalty restrictions on a 16-year-old was what prompted Ellington’s office to file the lower charge.
“He was arrested for capital murder,” Ellington said. “We filed first degree murder charges. Because the defendant is a juvenile and the death penalty is not in play, there will be no confusion at trial.”
Ellington said Ivy will face 10 to 40 years or life in prison for his alleged crime.
Detectives believe Ivy, who called himself “Da Shoota” on Facebook, had been at the 1800-block of Cedar Heights Drive with several other underage friends late Sunday, March 26, as described in the probable cause affidavit. Ivy left there and went to the 400-block of North Allis Street to an apartment where he met another juvenile friend. Once on Allis Street, Ivy was confronted by two teens who arrived from the Cedar Heights address. When the teens left the apartment, they got into a car driven by Carr. She had been waiting on them while whatever confrontation with Ivy took place.
Then, Ivy and another juvenile emerged from the back of the apartment and came around the corner. Gunshots rang out into the night, prompting the early Monday morning calls to JPD. At 12:40 a.m., a “shots heard” complaint in the 400 block of North Allis Street sent officers to the scene of a shooting and as they would soon learn, a fatal one. Carr had been shot in the head and the wound was mortal. She was taken to St. Bernard’s Medical Center, where she died later Monday morning.
Ivy was in court via video service Thursday. Family members of both the victim and the accused were present.
The young man’s Facebook profile shows a troubled lifestyle led by Ivy. Photos showed him holding guns, flipping off the camera and one photo, pictured above, even shows him from an earlier arrest.
Ivy and Carr were also friends, at one point, before the alleged murder happened.
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So where is the other teen who ambushed them with him? Why hasn’t that kid been charged with something? What about the kids with the murdered girl? If someone is killed while a felony is being committed ( robbery, home invasion, battery etc) everyone involved can be charged. Why haven’t their been more arrests? They all sound like delinquents who need to be taken off the streets. Why not get them all not just this one murderer?
#justiceforbird
RIP BIRD.