By Bonnie Culverhouse
Jury selection was completed Tuesday in the 2020 shooting death of 37-year-old Anthony John Bruns of Springhill.
Opening statements are to begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday, October 5 at the Webster Parish Courthouse in Minden. Judge Charles Smith, 26th Judicial District Court, is presiding. Assistant District Attorney Jimbo Yocom is the prosecutor and Shreveport attorney Mary Ellen Halterman is defending Logan Harmon Smith for second degree murder, which carries a sentence of life in prison with no chance of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.
Following jury selection, the state offered the defense 35 years for manslaughter and 10 years for obstruction of justice. Answering on his own behalf, Smith rejected all offers.
Bruns reportedly was found on the side of Percy Burns Road, just south of Reynolds Street on Louisiana Hwy. 157 in June of 2020.
Webster Parish Sheriff’s investigators Phillip Krouse and Tommy Kemp Jr. worked the case and arrested Smith, who was 21 at the time. Smith is from Taylor, Ark.
Bruns was allegedly killed in another location, and his body dumped at the site where Springhill Police were called. It was reportedly out of their jurisdiction, so Sheriff’s investigators were called to the scene.
In a 2020 story, KTAL news reported Smith confessed to shooting Bruns but did not disclose a motive, claiming he did not know the victim prior to the shooting.
Bruns’ family – his mother and two sisters – were in the courtroom Monday and Tuesday for jury selection.
