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FAYETTEVILLE — Jury selection is underway this morning in the capital murder trial of a Fayetteville man accused of killing and dismembering a woman four years ago, then throwing most of her body parts into various areas of Beaver Lake.
Kacey Kawika Jennings, 33, is charged with capital murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and theft of property related to Allison Maria Castro’s death. Capital murder, if convicted, is punishable by either death or life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Prosecutors are estimating it will take about three days to seat a jury to hear the case in Washington County Circuit Court. Circuit Judge Joanna Taylor is presiding over the trial, which could take up to two weeks.
Taylor has called a pool of 100 potential jurors for the voir dire process, according to Washington County Prosecuting Attorney Brandon Carter.
Voir dire is the process through which potential jurors are questioned by either the lawyers and judge to determine their suitability for jury service. It is used to excuse prospective jurors deemed incapable of fulfilling juror obligations, such as impartiality.
The pool is being split into two groups of 50 with half coming to court Wednesday morning and the other half in the afternoon. They’ll then be further broken into groups of three Thursday as the process continues, according to Carter.
Taylor earlier this week granted a defense motion allowing Jennings to get a pretrial haircut, shower daily during the trial and have civilian clothes available at the jail for him to change into before coming to court.
Taylor previously denied motions made on Jennings’ behalf to exclude certain evidence at trial.
The hours of interviews and evidence, in particular the interviews, appear to present major problems for the defense because Jennings detailed Castro’s dismemberment.
In addition, he retraced with police the route he said he used while disposing of the various body parts and a shotgun.
The various locations included the U.S. 412 bridge east of Springdale, where Jennings said he disposed of Castro’s legs in Beaver Lake, and the Arkansas 12 bridge east of Rogers, where Jennings said he disposed of Castro’s head and torso and the shotgun, according to police. Other locations were between those sites.
Police marked the locations, and dive teams later searched with little success, but did find at least one of Castro’s legs.
Taylor also denied a defense motion related to the seizure of Jennings’ cellphones and a journal.
According to testimony during the February hearing, Jennings made videos of what he did to Castro on a cellphone police seized from him at a hospital where he was being treated for a drug overdose. The defense contended that phone was improperly taken by police without a warrant or probable cause because police did not know at the time whether a crime had even been committed.
Prosecutors countered that police knew from Jennings’ suicide note that Castro was probably dead and took the phone for safekeeping while getting a warrant so Jennings could not erase potential evidence it contained. Prosecutors said police simply held on to the phone, without examining it, until a warrant was secured the following day for that phone, a journal and two other phones found at Jennings’ residence.
CASE HISTORY
Police reported responding Sept. 19, 2022, to a Fayetteville residence and found Jennings experiencing an apparent drug overdose. Several documents found at the residence indicated Jennings possibly killed Castro and disposed of her body, police said.
Jennings was arrested Sept. 26, 2022, after being released from a local medical facility.
Prosecutors have said in court filings they believe Jennings shot Castro in the chest Aug. 19, 2022. Castro was reported missing in September 2022.
After his initial not guilty plea, Jennings has had two change-of-plea hearings, one in May and one in April 2024, but changed his mind at the last minute both times. Prosecutors had agreed both times to waive the death penalty in exchange for a guilty plea and life without parole sentence.
Ron Wood can be reached by email at rwood@nwaonline.com.
Ron Wood
Ron Wood has been a professional journalist in Arkansas for about 40 years. He has covered state and federal courts in Northwest Arkansas since 1995. Over the course of his award-winning career, he has covered a wide range of beats including city and county governments, police and fire, regional planning and transportation, education and business.
