In the summer of 2015, the city of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, was troubled by a series of violent crimes. On the afternoon of Saturday, July 25th, this grim trend continued when police were called to the intersection of East Short 24th and Indiana streets. There, they discovered a tan Mercury Grand Marquis that had come to a stop partially off the road. Inside the vehicle, they found the unresponsive body of 30-year-old Kevin Lee Lampkin, a Black man who had sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, marking the sixth homicide in Pine Bluff that year.
In the days that followed, the Pine Bluff Police Department worked to identify who was responsible for Lampkin's death. Their investigation quickly pointed to a prime suspect: 22-year-old Jermaine Markist Bailey. With Bailey identified, law enforcement issued a statewide alert to other agencies across Arkansas. The coordinated effort paid off swiftly. Just four days after Lampkin's body was discovered, on July 29, 2015, Bailey was apprehended during a traffic stop in Little Rock.
With the suspect in custody, the legal process began. Jermaine Markist Bailey was initially charged with first-degree murder for the death of Kevin Lampkin. The case proceeded through the justice system, and in 2018, Bailey entered into a plea agreement. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder. As a result of his plea, he was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison for his role in the fatal shooting. In 2019, Bailey attempted to have his sentence reduced by seeking credit for the time he had served prior to his sentencing, but this request was denied by the Arkansas Court of Appeals, upholding the original terms of his 30-year sentence.
