July 13th 1949: 15 Year old VELMA RUTH BOHANNON from the Ham Town Community near Mulberry, Arkansas murdered by Jack Perkins and/or James Eugene Harris

PERKINS v. STATE No. 4608.
230 S.W.2d 1 (1950)
PERKINS
vs.
STATE
Supreme Court of Arkansas
May 8, 1950

FROM: www.leagletax.com
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Jack Perkins and James Eugene Harris were jointly charged by information with the crime of murder in the 2nd degree in the death of a 15-year-old girl, Velma Ruth Bohannon. They were jointly tried and convicted of involuntary manslaughter and their punishment fixed at three years in the penitentiary.

There is little dispute in the evidence which, in the light most favorable to the state, tends to show the following facts:

In July, 1949, Velma Ruth Bohannon resided with her parents in the Ham Town Community near Mulberry, Arkansas. Perkins and Harris appeared at the Bohannon home in Perkin's truck on the afternoon of July 13th, 1949, and Harris made an engagement to take Velma Ruth to a picture show.

The young men returned about 7:00 p. m., picked up Velma Ruth and drove to the home of another girl who refused to accompany the party. The three then drove to a place in Ozark, where Perkins and Harris drank some beer and procured a bottle of wine. They then drove to Perkins's home where they parked the truck. Perkins went into his house leaving Harris with the girl in the truck. A quarrel resulted when Harris attempted to have sexual intercourse with Velma Ruth. Harris then left the girl and went into the house where he reported the quarrel to Jack and told him to take the girl home.

After Harris assured Perkins that he did not love the girl, Perkins indicated his intention of having sexual relations with her. Perkins overtook the girl on the road. She refused to ride in the cab with him but got on the running board on the right-hand side. Perkins then drove a short distance to Highway 64 and the girl still refused to get in the truck. Perkins accelerated the speed of the truck in order to frighten or force the child to get into the cab. Instead of taking the dirt road that led to the girl's home, Perkins drove past the point where the road enters Highway 64 toward the town of Mulberry. After driving about a mile past the intersection, he discovered that the girl was not on the truck. Perkins reported the incident to Harris and they went to the Bohannon home shortly after midnight and asked Mrs. Bohannon if the girl had come in. When the girl's mother replied in the negative, Harris stated that Velma Ruth left them at a cafe. Perkins and Harris then drove back to the highway and after a short search, the motor of the truck would not start. Perkins then went to sleep in the truck and Harris went home.

Velma Ruth's body was found by her mother about 5 (a.m.) o'clock the next morning on the shoulder of Highway 64 about an eighth of a mile east of the point where the Ham Town road intersects the paved highway. An autopsy revealed that the girl had suffered a broken neck, concussion of the brain and cuts and abrasions about the face apparently caused when she jumped, or was thrown, from the truck. There was other evidence that Perkins and Harris were intoxicated on the night in question and that the girl's body had been moved to the place where it was found in some high grass about six feet from the paved highway. At the time of the trial Perkins was 27 years of age while Harris gave his age as 18.

The young men were arrested the following day and both made statements to investigating officers which were later reduced to writing and introduced in evidence at the trial.

About the only material difference in the statements introduced and the testimony of Harris at the trial is that, in his testimony, he denied having intercourse with the girl.

Velma Ruth is buried at the Hixon Cemetary, in Arkansas.