A Poplar Bluff man was ordered to stand trial Monday afternoon on a murder charge stemming from a “fight that got out of control.”
Accompanied by his attorney, Ian Page with the Public Defender’s Office, Skylar Thomas Carter was to appear before Associate Circuit Judge C. Wade Pierce for a preliminary hearing in his case.
Instead, Carter waived having a hearing in his case.
Pierce accepted Carter’s waiver after he told the 25-year-old of his rights, including his right to a preliminary hearing.
Pierce subsequently ordered Carter to appear at 9 a.m. Feb. 5 before Presiding Circuit Judge Michael Pritchett for arraignment on the charge.
The 25-year-old is charged with the Class A felony of second-degree murder in connection with the Nov. 17 death of Daniel Lashley, who died of blunt-force trauma to his chest.
The charge stems from an investigation by the Poplar Bluff Police Department, which began when its officers were sent to the area of Woodrow and Henry streets regarding a person in a ditch.
The officers, according to police Detective Andy Cleaveland’s probable-cause statement, found Lashley in the ditch on the south side of Henry Street.
“Lashley was breathing at the time; however, (he) was unresponsive,” Cleaveland said. “While officers were rendering aid, the victim stopped breathing and CPR was immediately started.”
The 59-year-old Poplar Bluff man was taken by ambulance to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
While at the scene, Cleaveland said, officers received information that Lashley and another man, later identified as Carter, had been involved in an altercation, and Carter had fled the area.
That altercation, according to earlier reports, was due to a dispute over a bicycle.
“Witness information showed that the suspect and the victim had been involved in a fight just east of the Woodrow/Henry intersection,” Cleaveland said. “ …the suspect had struck the victim, causing him to fall into the ditch … the suspect (then) jumped from the roadway onto the victim.”
Witnesses reported Carter had jumped on Lashley’s chest/head, he said.
“The victim was not fighting with the suspect at this time; however, the suspect continued the assault (on) the victim by kicking, punching and ‘stomping’ the victim,” Cleaveland said. “The victim was defenseless at the time; however, the assault still continued.”
Cleaveland said witnesses yelled for Carter to stop, and “he eventually did” and then fled.
Carter later returned to the scene and began asking officers “how the ‘other guy’ was, and if he was ‘OK,’” Cleaveland said.
Cleaveland said he told Carter, who had blood on his hands and face, of his rights.
Carter was taken to the police department, where he was interviewed.
Cleaveland said Carter reported “he and the victim had been involved in a fight, which got out of control.
“Carter admitted that he had struck and kicked the victim several times while the victim was in the bottom of the ditch.”
Two witnesses, Cleaveland said, reported having seen the “incident in its entirety and that they observed the suspect repeatedly punching, kicking and stomping the victim while (he) was in the ditch.”