2nd man charged in ’09 killings

Arrest affidavits in LR double homicide sealed until trial

SEAN BEHEREC ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/BENJAMIN KRAIN

Justin Watson is led from the Little Rock police station Thursday after being charged in
an April 2009 double homicide.

Little Rock police made a second arrest Thursday in a double homicide that occurred
last spring.
Justin Watson, 23, of 1508 W. 13th St. in North Little Rock was served with an arrest
warrant at 8:30 a.m. and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of
57-year-old Kenneth Marion and 16-year-old Anthony Jackson. Marion and Jackson
were both shot in the head, and their bodies were found at 2:30 a.m. on April 1, 2009, in a
1999 Pontiac Sunfire at West 22nd and South Valentine streets.
Watson is already serving a 96-month sentence in a state prison for theft by receiving
and other charges, stemming from his arrest by North Little Rock police on the same day
Marion and Jackson died.
Police say Watson and Stephan Luckadue, 21, who also is charged in the double
homicide, broke into an off-duty Little Rock police officer’s car at Indian Hills
Elementary School just before 4 p.m. that day. As he approached them, the officer
reportedly drew his weapon and ordered them to the ground.
 Watson fled on foot, and Luckadue got into a blue sedan, threw the car in drive and hit
the officer, knocking him aside.
Luckadue was also in a state prison when he was charged in the double homicide. He
is serving a 30-year sentence at the Ouachita River Unit for trying to kill the officer.
The arrest affidavits in both homicide cases have been sealed by prosecutors and are to
remain sealed until trial.
John Johnson, chief deputy prosecuting attorney, would not comment on specific cases
but said it is not uncommon to seal affidavits before trial “to protect the integrity of the
investigation” or for the safety of witnesses mentioned in the affidavit.
Investigators often want to keep specifics of high-profile crimes out of newspapers,
Johnson said, citing the Curtis Lavelle Vance case as one recent example. The seal allows
investigators to present information during trial that they can show was not available to
the public, including specifics about how a person committed a crime or the weapon
used.
“Frankly, it happens all the time,” he said.
Watson is to make his first appearance in court today.
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