KTLO News
Parks murder trial to begin Monday
By: Ray Dean DavisJury selection in the capital murder trial of 42-year-old Gary Wayne Parks of Germantown, Tennessee is scheduled to begin Monday morning in Baxter County Circuit Court. Parks is charged in connection with the June, 2006, death of his stepfather, 62-year-old Mountain Home urologist Dr. David Millstein.
Millstein's body was found on June 18th, 2006, at his residence in eastern Mountain Home. Police discovered the body after being asked to do a welfare check by staff at Baxter Regional Medical Center who were unable to contact the doctor. Autopsy reports indicate that Millstein died of multiple stab wounds.
Parks was charged with the murder after an intense three-and-a-half year investigation by the Mountain Home Police Department and the Arkansas State Police. His trial is expected to last for up to two weeks, according to 14th District Prosecutor Ron Kincade.
Kincade said the prosecution plans to call 15 to 20 witnesses to the stand and the defense has listed more than 70 potential witnesses, although the actual number is expected to be fewer than that.
Parks is represented in the case by attorneys Danny Glover of Wynne and Joe Perry of Marianna.
Ray Dean Davis has more on the upcoming trial.
After a Baxter County warrant was issued, Parks was taken into custody at his home in the Memphis suburb on December 21st, 2009. Germantown authorities made the arrest, accompanied by Mountain Home Police Investigator Lt. Nevin Barnes and Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigator Mark Hollingsworth.
During a Shelby County court appearance the following day Parks waived extradition and was returned to Mountain Home. On December 23rd he entered a not guilty plea in Baxter County Circuit Court. Since that time he has been held without bond in the county detention center.
During a January, 2010, appearance in circuit court, Parks was declared eligible for public defender services. Federal courts have ruled that attorneys appointed to capital cases, which could result in a death sentence, must meet certain criteria regarding experience and education. No local public defenders met that criteria so appointments were made through the state commission.
Prosecutor Kincade has not definitely said that the state will seek the death penalty if Parks is found guilty, only saying that is an option.
Parks was first tentatively scheduled for trial in July of 2010, but the trial has been continued more than once at the request of defense attorneys.
In August of 2010 Parks was transported under tight security to St. Vincent Hospital in Little Rock where he underwent surgery. Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery said the medical procedure was not an emergency, but due to privacy laws he couldn't divulge the nature of the medical condition.
Parks will be tried on a charge of capital murder with aggravating circumstances. Few details of the case have been made public, since court documents have been kept sealed at the request of attorneys. Prosecutor Kincade has said he wouldn't object to the files being unsealed, but defense attorneys have not concurred.
Kincade was able to say that in order for a charge to be elevated to capital murder there must be at least one of six certain mitigating factors involved. Without being specific, he contends that two of those factors are present in the Parks case.
Parks had moved from Little Rock to Germantown after Dr. Millstein's death. His mother, Lois Parks, was married to the doctor, but was also living in Little Rock at the time of his death.
In September of 1993 Lois Parks was married to another murder victim, 47-year-old Luther Gerald "Jerry" Parks who was shot to death as he drove along Highway 10 in Little Rock. That murder remains unsolved.
