Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. District Court of Appeals in St. Louis on Thursday upheld the first-degree murder conviction of a Little Rock gang member convicted of killing a man in 2001.

Anarian Chad Jackson, serving a life sentence for the shooting death of 23-year-old Charles Raynor Jr., had argued the jury was prejudiced during his trial because a state expert witness described him as a “slinger” and “banger.”

In a unanimous ruling, the appeals court disagreed, saying the testimony did not have a substantial effect on the jury verdict because it was cumulative with other evidence suggesting that Jackson was violent and involved in the drug trade.

The ruling upholds a decision by U.S. District Court Judge J. Thomas Ray.

Jackson was convicted in Pulaski County Circuit Court of first-degree murder. At the time of the shooting, he was leader of a gang called the West Side Posse, according to Thursday’s federal appeals court ruling.

Chris Bush of Little Rock, a fellow gang member, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in connection with Raynor’s death. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

During Jackson’s trial, a Little Rock detective who testified as a gang intelligence expert defined the term “slinger” as someone who deals drugs and a “banger” as a gang member. He then told the jury Jackson was both.