Arkansas Online

Carjacking suspect back in state after arrest in Alabama.

After time in Alabama jail, woman arraigned in LR court

DALE ELLIS

A woman jailed in Alabama after a police chase was arraigned Thursday in federal court in Little Rock on charges related to a pair of carjackings last year in Memphis and West Memphis.

In a criminal complaint filed May 4 in federal court, Ashley Egan was accused of working with Doncrecy Payne Jr. to steal a Ford Fusion and a U-Haul truck on Nov. 12. Egan and Payne were indicted by a federal grand jury in a six-count indictment handed up on June 1. They are charged with three counts of carjacking and three counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

The pair were accused in the indictment of stealing a U-Haul truck in Memphis just before 3 a.m. after approaching the driver, who was sleeping inside. The pair are accused of striking the driver in the head with a handgun, and taking his wallet and cellphone before taking off in the truck and driving to West Memphis.

About 6 a.m. that same day, the indictment said, a man approached a woman sitting in a 2015 Ford Fusion in front of a residence, forced the woman out of the car at gunpoint while a woman stood lookout, then drove away in the car. Egan and Payne were identified as the suspects.

The indictment said that on Nov. 19, the pair, still driving the Fusion, were arrested by Alabama State Highway Patrol officers after a chase in Calhoun County, Ala., that reached speeds of 130 mph and ended only after the car traveled across a ditch and plowed through three chain link fences in backyards.

The indictment said that a Taurus .38-caliber handgun was recovered after being tossed from the car during the chase, and a second firearm was found disassembled in the car. Payne and Egan were apprehended as they attempted to flee on foot after crashing the car, reports said.

If convicted, Egan and Payne could face up to 15 years on each carjacking count and seven years on each weapons count.

Egan appeared in court Thursday shackled and handcuffed, wearing jail scrubs from the Western Tennessee Detention Facility in Mason, Tenn., but was transported from Alabama, where she and Payne are facing state charges from the pursuit.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Harris appointed Jordan Tinsley of Little Rock to represent Egan. Tinsley waived reading of the indictment, entered a plea of innocent and requested a jury trial, which Harris said would initially be scheduled for July 29 at 9:30 a.m. before Chief U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr.

“The United States indicates it will need four days to put on its evidence,” Harris said. “That doesn’t include the time you may need, Mr. Tinsley, should you and your client choose to put on evidence.”

After prosecutors requested that Egan be detained, Tinsley, pointing out that she is currently facing state charges in Alabama, asked to reserve the right to request a bail hearing when the time comes.

“She’s not serving a sentence there, is she?” Harris asked.

“It’s my understanding there was a high-speed chase in which she was apprehended and there are some charges arising from that,” Tinsley said.

Harris said she would issue a detainer to have Egan placed in federal custody once the Alabama charges are resolved.

Payne also was scheduled to be arraigned at the same time as Egan, but his hearing was canceled and had not been reset as of Thursday afternoon.

Arkansas

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2021-06-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://edition.arkansasonline.com/article/282213718791968

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