Vincent Tyler v. State of Arkansas

── Vincent Tyler v. State of Arkansas ── Court: Court of Appeals of Arkansas Date: April 22, 2026 Category: General Cite as 2026 Ark. App. 248 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION III No. CR-25-388 Opinion Delivered April 22, 2026 VINCENT TYLER APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE JEFFERSON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 35CR-23-312] V. HONORABLE ALEX GUYNN, JUDGE STATE OF ARKANSAS APPELLEE AFFIRMED CASEY R. TUCKER, Judge Vincent Tyler appeals his conviction of first-degree murder with a firearm enhancement in the Jefferson County Circuit Court. On appeal, Tyler argues that the circuit court erred in submitting a nonmodel jury instruction on flight when there was no evidence he had fled and in denying his motions to instruct the jury on the lesser-included offenses of second-degree murder and manslaughter. We affirm. The State charged Tyler with capital murder, alleging that on May 18, 2023, he caused the death of John Payne with premeditated and deliberated purpose. The State alleged that Tyler was subject to a firearm enhancement. The trial took place on March 20, 2025. John Payne was shot and killed on May 18, 2023. According to Dr. Adam Craig, who performed the autopsy, Mr. Payne died of multiple gunshot wounds. Two bullets entered the right back side of Mr. Payne’s scalp, traveled upward through his brain from right to left, and exited through a shared wound on the left upper part of his scalp. A third bullet entered Mr. Payne’s head further down on the right side and traveled right to left and slightly upward below his brain case before exiting his left cheek. The fourth bullet entered the right back side of his neck, traveled slightly upward, also right to left, and exited through his left lower cheek. A fifth bullet entered Mr. Payne’s upper right back, came out the top of his shoulder, and entered his neck where it lodged underneath his skull. The sixth gunshot was to the back of Mr. Payne’s right shoulder; this bullet traveled through the humerus before exiting through the front of his shoulder. The two bullets that traveled through Mr. Payne’s brain, alone, would have been fatal, and the two that exited his left cheek could have proved fatal. Dr. Craig determined that Mr. Payne died as the result of multiple gunshot wounds and that his manner of death was homicide. Anthony Morehead, an armed guard for Valero, testified that he had just left work and was walking home on May 18 when he heard gunshots. As he went in the direction of the gunshots, a woman approached him and told him she needed to use a phone. A “guy” on a bicycle passed between Morehead and the woman so closely that he almost hit the woman. The person on the bicycle appeared to hand something to the woman, or vice versa, then rode away. Morehead offered the woman his phone, but she did not reply, so he continued walking. He then saw a truck in the middle of the street with its lights on. This was when he called 911. When Morehead first saw the woman in the street, she appeared to be coming from the truck. The woman turned out to be Melissa Colbert, Tyler’s mother. 2  Morehead’s recorded call to 911 was played for the jury. In that call, Morehead identified himself then told the operator that as he was heading home from work and walking down 23rd Street, he heard “a lot of gunshots.” Then he saw a heavyset woman in a thin dress pacing back and forth. She would not answer him when he asked if there was a shooting. Morehead told the operator that there was a truck sitting in the middle of the street with its lights on, possibly still running, and he thought the driver had been shot and was pr