Man pleads not guilty in fatal nightclub attack

Suspect previously convicted for shooting at victim in 2013

LaJason Coakley
LaJason Coakley

A Texarkana man accused of killing a man he was previously sentenced to prison for shooting at entered a not guilty plea Tuesday before a judge in Miller County, Ark.

LaJason Jaquize Coakley, 23, appeared Tuesday before Circuit Judge Brent Haltom with Texarkana lawyer Darren Anderson for a hearing in a courtroom at the Miller County jail. Coakley asked about the evidence in his case. In particular, Coakley inquired about a recording made by surveillance equipment at the Paradise Club the night Montel Waller was shot in the chest. Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Black told the court that problems with a disk previously provided to the defense has been remedied by Texarkana, Ark., police and a new disk is being made available.

Waller, a 25-year-old father, died Sept. 12 in a local hospital of complications associated with a gunshot wound he suffered Aug. 20 at the Paradise Club. Coakley was on parole for two counts of felony terroristic act and prohibited from possessing a firearm at the time of the nightclub shooting. Coakley was arrested Sept. 22.

The terroristic act charges stem from a June 19, 2013, shooting involving Coakley and a co-defendant. Coakley fired an assault rifle toward a group of people and at a car in a Texarkana, Ark., neighborhood. Among those whose life was endangered by Coakley's conduct in 2013 was Waller. Waller was subpoenaed to testify against Coakley at his trial in 2014. But Coakly pleaded guilty in June 2014 to two counts of terroristic act and was sentenced to serve 10 years in prison.

Witnesses told police the 2013 shooting was motivated by a Texas versus Arkansas rivalry. Coakley is from Texarkana, Ark., and Waller is from Texarkana, Texas, according to a probable cause affidavit.

At the time of his plea in June 2014, Coakley received credit for 368 days in jail. He was paroled in August 2015 after serving just over a year in prison. The murder allegation in Miller County led to Coakley's return to the Arkansas Department of Correction on a parole violation. ADC's website indicates Coakley is being held in the Grimes Unit in Newport, Ark., when he is not being held in the Miller County jail to attend court. ADC's site indicates Coakley completed an anger management course in January 2015. Coakley was disciplined Jan. 25 for unauthorized use of mail or telephone, according to ADC's website.

Coakley's case is scheduled for a status hearing next month and for jury selection April 3. However, Anderson said he intends to ask for a delay in that trial setting. If found guilty of first-degree murder in Waller's death, Coakley faces 10 to 40 years or life in an Arkansas prison.

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