Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Youth Gets 20 years For Murder

After a mistrial earlier this year, Earnest Lee Young was retried and found guilty of second degree murder in the death of his ex-wife, Cora Young.

Young's trial was held in the Ninth District Circuit Court Sept. 26. District Judge W.H. "Dub" Arnold sentenced him to 20 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction and fined him $10,000.

He was first charged with Cora M. Young's murder Oct. 28, 1994, with the mistrial occurring March 28, 1995.

According to court records, the Youngs were apparently having an argument at the time the shooting occurred. He told officers the weapon, a .380 semiautomatic handgun, accidentally went off, striking his ex-wife in the head. However, the weapon had two safeties which were allegedly on at the time.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found Young standing over the woman's body, with the weapon still in his hand.

Gurdon City Marshal David Childres testified it took about 20 minutes to get Young away from the body and out of the house so emergency personnel could examine the woman, who later was pronounced dead at a Little Rock hospital. Childres told the court Young had the pistol next to Cora's head and refused to move even though officers had shotguns leveled at him.

Records show Young repeatedly ignored orders to drop the weapon.

Young's attorney, Robert Morehead, during the first trial, said the suspect was merely "attending" to his wounded former wife when officers arrived and was not concerned with his own safety.

Specialists with the Arkansas Crime Lab in Little Rock testified it would take between eight and 10 pounds of pressure to squeeze the trigger on the handgun in question and make it fire. He also said this particular weapon has two safeties. Testing showed there was no way the handgun could have accidentally discharged.

Cora Young, 40, was pronounced dead Oct. 29, 1994 at a Little Rock hospital. The cause of death was listed as a single gunshot wound to the head.

Young testified he and his ex-wife were in the bedroom arguing when he took the gun, which he admitted was his, out from under the bed and was getting ready to leave. He said he put a clip of ammunition in the handgun and it "somehow" chambered a round.

He agreed the weapon has two safeties and is not supposed to fire unless both are off, but told the court this somehow happened and the two safeties were not engaged. The handgun, he said, fired accidentally, with the bullet striking Cora in the head.

Young also agreed with Childres' testimony about not moving when ordered to by officers, but said this was because he was in shock and distraught and couldn't move.

The jury didn't buy the excuse and found Young guilty of second degree murder.