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Prosecutor Defends Handling Of Dirksmeyer Case

9:06 AM, Jul 31, 2007   |    comments
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The prosecutor who oversaw the case against a man accused of killing his beauty-queen girlfriend in Russellville says "everything that was feasible to be done, that needed to be done, was done" with forensic testing. Prosecutor David Gibbons defended the case he presented to jurors against 21-year-old Dover resident Kevin Jones in an interview with the Russellville Courier. Gibbons says he did not consider offering jurors the opportunity to consider a lesser charge against Jones in the slaying of Nona Dirksmeyer, a 19-year-old student at Arkansas Tech who was the reigning Miss Petit Jean Valley at the time of her death. Gibbons says he will be at certain crime scenes to advise officers about any legal issues, such as when to seek search warrants when collecting evidence. Gibbons was at Dierksmeyer's Russellville apartment on Dec. 15, 2005 as police started their investigation. As of now, Gibbons says the investigation will remain open "for a short period of time." Since the case began, Gibbons says the Russellville police have undergone changes. Russellville Police Chief James Bacon left the department, replaced by Assistant Chief Tom McMillen. The head of the department's investigations division also changed.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)