College Station man involved in 2022 incident that left woman dead, given probation on weapons charge | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A 38-year-old College Station man arrested at gunpoint by Little Rock police investigating the death of a woman in September 2022 has been sentenced to three years of probation.

Kenan Charles Smith pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced last month by Pulaski County Circuit Judge the Honorable LaTonya, court records show. The judge still imposed a fine of $1,000.

According to police reports, Candice Dawn “Candy” Godbold, 37, of Conway, was found unconscious with a severe head injury shortly after midnight on September 3, 2022, in the parking lot of the Exxon store at 612 E. Roosevelt Road. . The 2015 Chevrolet Sonic Godbold was driving was also in the lot, with severe front-end damage and a deployed airbag. The mother-of-one suffered numerous injuries, including skull fractures, and died four days later.

Witnesses described a silver pickup truck leaving the scene, and police caught up with the truck, a 2008 Chevrolet Silverado, at the intersection of Interstate 30. Smith, the driver, was arrested, and police found an AR-15 rifle on the console of the truck .

Witness Jason Wakefield, 44, of Conway told investigators he was asleep in the back seat of the Sonic when he was suddenly awakened by the car pulling off the highway and into the parking lot, describing how he then saw the Smith, holding a rifle, arguing. with Godbold. Wakefield said he calmed down Smith and Godbold, and Smith put the gun away in the truck.

Wakefield said he then saw Godbold get into the Sonic and slam into Smith’s truck, with Smith driving away as police arrived. He told police he didn’t hear any gunshots, but Bradley Darnell, 39, of Conway, who had been with him and Godbold, told him she had been shot in the head.

Darnell gave an almost identical version of events, except that he had heard a single shot as Smith fired his rifle into the ground before Godbold rammed Smith’s pickup. Investigators found a single shotgun shell in the lot, next to an apparent bullet hit in the concrete.

When questioned by police, Smith told a similar story, stating that after Godbold crashed his pickup, she climbed onto his dashboard and tried to grab his gun. He said he swerved and hit a curb while trying to get her off his truck. He said she fell out of the truck just as police arrived.

Smith said he fired one round from the rifle before Smith crashed his truck, but he hasn’t used the gun in several months. Furthermore, he admitted to hitting Godbold with the rifle. The reports do not describe the feud between him and Godbold. Smith was on probation at the time for a May 2020 conviction for trafficking marijuana in Pulaski County.

An autopsy did not find a gunshot wound, but found that severe head trauma contributed to her death, which was ruled a homicide by authorities.