Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Prosecution Begins Case Against Joe Dansby For 1992 Murders

Joe Louis Dansby's fate should soon be known.

Dansby, on trial for the May 16, 1992, murders of Jeff Lewis, 24, and Malissa Clark, 21, both of Prescott, faces the death penalty if found guilty.

Lewis was employed by Anthony Timber Co. of Beirne, while Clark was a part-time dispatcher with the Nevada County Sheriff's Office.

Jury selection began Monday, April 7, and took two full days to complete. Dansby's jury is composed of seven white women, three white men, one black woman and one black man. There are three alternates, all white.

No one was surprised it took two days to seat a death qualified jury for this particular case.

Opening arguments began Wednesday morning, April 9, with 8th Judicial District Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Danny Rodgers taking center stage. However, Dansby's attorney's James Pratt and Gene Bramblett, asked 8th Judicial District Circuit-Chancery Judge Joe Griffin to exclude the jury from opening arguments, as some of the information presented would also be used as evidence.

Griffin denied the request, allowing the jury to remain. He also warned all parties not to discuss the case with anyone and told the jurors not to watch any televised news, read any newspapers or listen to radio news broadcasts, as they may contain stories about the case and prejudice their decisions.

Rodgers then told the jury a little about himself and went into specific detail on the geography of Nevada County, focusing on the area where the bodies of Lewis and Clark were found, along where evidence was first found in the case.

The jury was informed of the charges filed against Dansby, two counts of capital felony murder, with one count of rape and kidnapping.

"The big issue," Rodgers said, is not if Lewis and Clark were murdered. Prior to their being murdered, they were taken against their will, and evidence will show Clark was raped. It will also show prior to the end of the episode, they were shot execution style. The big question is who did it?"

Rodgers likened this case to a jigsaw puzzle, saying when it was learned a crime had been committed, there was a puzzle to solve. "The officers had to sort through the pieces, discarding the ones that didn't fit," he said. "We'll present y'all with the pieces to determine who did it."

He said the defense would try and confuse the jury by dumping pieces that don't fit back into the puzzle. "There'll be a lot of questions never resolved," he told the panel. "And we must prove beyond a reasonable doubt who did it."

The jury was told there were two crime scenes, possibly more. They were told there was at least one perpetrator, maybe more than one. Rodgers also said there would most likely be pieces of the state's puzzle missing, but those pieces wouldn't be germane to the case.

In the end, he said, the central portion of the puzzle would be clear enough to show a picture of Dansby.

The state based its case on three particular areas of the "puzzle". The first area, Rodgers said, would be the firearm, shells and shell casings from a Marlin .22 caliber rifle.

The rifle is important, because the state believes it to be the murder weapon. It was examined by Berwin Monroe of the Arkansas State Crime Lab in Little Rock for ballistics comparisons.

During the investigation, Rodgers said, Dansby was questioned about the rifle, and denied having it. Information was developed, he said, showing Dansby's wife purchased the rifle at Wal-Mart in Arkadelphia, signing Dansby's name to the registration.

Following the murders, the rifle was located in a bar pit off Highway 53 between Prescott and Gurdon.

Rodgers said shell casings found at the murder scenes match the firing from the rifle, and casings found at Dansby's house.

But, he pointed out to the jury, ballistics testing was unable to determine this was the specific weapon used in the murders of Lewis and Clark. This is because of the damage done to the rifle while it was underwater in the gravel pit.

Another area of focus for the state is DNA testing. Rodgers said vaginal swabs taken from Clark during the autopsy and blood taken from Dansby shows him to be a match.

The third area of the puzzle, Rodgers said, would be the crime scenes themselves. Because of their remote geographic locations, he said, the chance encounter of the three is of vital importance. The remoteness of the area, he said, limits the number of suspects there could be.

Dansby, he told the jury, was not only familiar with the area in question, but was also known to walk around with firearms.

Bramblett, speaking on Dansby's behalf, also told about himself and Pratt.

He told the jury the opening statements, closing statements and remarks made by the attorneys during the trial are not evidence, but are to give an overview of the case.

Much of the state's evidence, he said, is questionable and would be in dispute.

Bramblett agreed the murders were grisly and Lewis and Clark were nice people from nice families who were dating and planning to get married.

He said when the defense asked a question it would be for a specific purpose, and not so the attorneys could hear the sound of their voice.

"What's in dispute," Bramblett said, "is who did it? Somebody did, but who?

"The state must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Dansby's not required to prove his innocence."

Bramblett said Dansby wasn't charged with the murders until July 13, 1995, more than three years after they occurred. The trail, he said, had gone cold.

He promised the jury there would be no spectacular incidents during the case. "It's not Perry Mason, and no one will jump up and confess. We're not Johnny Cochran or F. Lee Bailey either."

Bramblett said the defense would show the weaknesses in the state's case, along with the flaws. "It's important to keep in mind what the state can't prove," he told the jury.

He, too, likened the case to a puzzle, telling the panel the state does have to put it together to show a clear, concise picture of Dansby as the murderer.

Discussing the Marlin .22, Bramblett said it had been bought in 1987 at the Arkadelphia Wal-Mart. This fact was discovered by the Nevada County Sheriff's Office and Arkansas State Police.

Officers went to Dansby asking if he purchased the weapon and were told no. They showed him the signature on the card, and were told it wasn't his.

The defense attorney said his wife had signed the card and brought the rifle home. Dansby was not present when it was bought. In addition, he said, several people had access to the rifle other than Dansby.

The rifle, he said, was found Jan. 25, 1994, at the bottom of the bar pit, about two years after the murders. The experts, Bramblett told the jury, can't say if this was or wasn't the murder weapon.

Talking about the shells and shell casings, Bramblett said, nine expended casings were fo