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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The latest on the capital murder trial of a man charged in the death of an Arkansas real estate agent (all times local):
5:20 p.m.
The son of an Arkansas real estate agent who was killed says she was wrongly portrayed during a capital murder trial.
Carl Carter Jr. says it was "awful" for Arron Lewis "to be able to drag her sweet name through the mud" while on trial for her 2014 death.
Lewis was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole Friday, shortly after being convicted of capital murder and kidnapping in Beverly Carter's suffocation death.
Lewis' attorneys had argued that Carter died accidentally during a consensual sex act, a claim that prosecutors said was a total fabrication. Prosecutors said Lewis helped set up a fake house showing with Carter, kidnapped her and then killed her when a ransom plot went awry.
Carter's son gave a victim impact statement in court Friday. He described his mother being gone as "a hole that can't be replaced."
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4:30 p.m.
A man convicted of capital murder and kidnapping in the suffocation death of an Arkansas real estate agent has been sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.
Arron Lewis was accused of kidnapping and killing 50-year-old Beverly Carter, who disappeared after telling her husband that she was showing a house to a prospective buyer in a rural area near Little Rock.
Prosecutors said Lewis and his estranged wife, Crystal Lowery, set up the fake house showing with Carter, then kidnapped her as part of a ransom plot.
Prosecutors argued that Carter was killed when the ransom plot went awry. Her body was later discovered in a shallow grave at a concrete plant where Lewis once worked, and an autopsy found she was suffocated.
Lowery pleaded guilty last year to first-degree murder and kidnapping and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. She testified as a witness for the prosecution.
Lewis' attorneys had argued that Carter died accidentally during a consensual sex act, a claim that prosecutors said was a total fabrication.
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4:05 p.m.
A jury in Little Rock has convicted a man of capital murder and kidnapping in the suffocation death of a real estate agent.
Arron Lewis was accused of kidnapping and killing 50-year-old Beverly Carter, who disappeared after telling her husband that she was showing a house to a prospective buyer. Prosecutors said Lewis and his estranged wife, Crystal Lowery, set up the fake house showing with Carter, then kidnapped her as part of a ransom plot.
Prosecutors argued that Carter was killed when the ransom plot went awry. Her body was later discovered in a shallow grave at a concrete plant where Lewis once worked, and an autopsy found she was suffocated.
Lowery pleaded guilty last year to first-degree murder and kidnapping and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. She testified as a witness for the prosecution.
Lewis' attorneys had argued that Carter died accidentally during a consensual sex act, a claim that prosecutors said was a total fabrication.
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3 p.m.
Jurors have begun deliberating in the case of an Arkansas man accused of kidnapping and killing a real estate agent.
The panel began its deliberations Friday afternoon after hearing starkly different theories of what led to the September 2014 death of Beverly Carter. Arron Lewis faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted in the case.
Pulaski County Deputy Prosecutor Barbara Mariani said in closing arguments that Carter died a brutal death, a victim of a ransom plot that went wrong.
But defense attorney Bill James said that Carter willingly met Lewis and his estranged wife, Crystal Lowery, and that her death happened accidentally during a consensual sex act. Mariani described the defense theory as a further victimization of Carter after her death, and said it was completely untrue.
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1:30 p.m.
Defense attorneys representing a man charged in the suffocation death of an Arkansas real estate agent have rested their case.
A judge in Little Rock is giving jurors instructions ahead of closing arguments Friday afternoon in the murder trial of Arron Lewis.
Lewis is accused of kidnapping and killing 50-year-old Beverly Carter, who disappeared after planning to show a home to a prospective buyer in a rural area near Little Rock.
The defense rested Friday afternoon after calling just two witnesses: Lewis and Carter's husband, Carl Carter Sr.
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1: 15 p.m.
A prosecutor in Arkansas is trying to point out inconsistencies in testimony from a man accused of kidnapping and killing a real estate agent.
Arron Lewis is accused in the 2014 death of Beverly Carter. Chief Deputy Prosecutor John Johnson spent part of Friday morning hoping to expose inconsistencies as Lewis testifies as part of his defense in the Little Rock trial.
At one point Friday, Johnson asked Lewis why he didn't describe a surgery scar across Carter's hips in a written account of a sexual encounter that Lewis says accidentally killed Carter. Lewis repeatedly said he didn't recall why he left it out.
Johnson also asked Lewis why he made a recording in which Carter asks her husband to follow ransom instructions and to not involve police. Lewis says he made the recording on a computer and the voice wasn't Carter's.
Earlier in the trial, Carter's son identified the voice in the recording as his mother's.
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10:15 a.m.
The man accused of kidnapping and killing an Arkansas real estate agent says he lied to police to protect his estranged wife, whom he said was responsible for the death.
Arron Lewis is testifying in his own defense Friday. Prosecutors accuse him of kidnapping and killing 50-year-old Beverly Carter as part of a ransom plot gone wrong, while defense attorneys have suggested that Carter died accidentally during a consensual sex act.
Lewis told jurors Friday about his extensive criminal history and said he lied to investigators to protect Crystal Lowery, his estranged wife.
Lowery testified Thursday that she and Lewis planned the kidnapping so he could have money to move out of her home. Lowery pleaded guilty last year to first-degree murder and kidnapping and is serving a 30-year prison sentence.
Carter disappeared in September 2014 after leaving to show a house in a rural area near Little Rock. Her body was later found in a shallow grave and an autopsy determined she had been suffocated.
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