In the early morning hours of September 9, 2016, a simple act of a father helping his daughter turned into a tragic and fatal encounter for 66-year-old Robert Lee Givens, a male resident of Conway, Arkansas. The night began with a call for help from Givens' daughter, who had a flat tire. After picking her up, they went to a local Walmart to purchase a can of 'fix-a-flat' to remedy the situation. As they were driving back, a tan-colored SUV began following their vehicle.
The SUV flashed its lights, prompting Givens to pull over.
Believing it might be someone he knew, Givens got out of his car and spoke with the driver of the SUV. Givens' daughter overheard the man in the SUV tell her father that he had mistaken him for someone else. After the brief exchange, Givens returned to his car and drove away. However, the sense of mistaken identity did not de-escalate the situation. The tan SUV continued to follow them. As they drove along Donaghey Avenue, the SUV pulled up beside Givens' vehicle, and a single shot was fired.
The bullet struck Robert Lee Givens, causing him to lose control of his car, which then crashed into the yard of a nearby home. When police and emergency services arrived at the scene, Givens was found deceased. The shooting, a senseless act of violence born from a simple mistake, left a family shattered and a community in shock. Neighbors remembered Givens as a kind man and a mentor to local youth, always willing to lend a helping hand.
Following an investigation by the Conway Police Department, a suspect was identified and arrested. Sammie L. Thomas, Jr., then 38, was charged with capital murder and possession of a firearm. Thomas was already in custody at the Faulkner County Detention Center on unrelated charges of false imprisonment and domestic battering when the murder charges were brought against him. He was subsequently convicted by a Faulkner County jury for the capital murder of Robert Lee Givens. For his crime, Sammie L. Thomas, Jr., was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. An appeal of his conviction was later denied, affirming the jury's decision.
