Dr. David I. Millstein
Parks, 42, is on trial for the June 17, 2006, stabbing death of his stepfather. He faces up to life imprinsonment without parole.
“Someone entered the residence while Dr. Millstein was sleeping and stabbed him to death. It was a violent and brutal murder,” Kincade told the jury, comprised of six men and six women. “There was an attempt to burn the body and set the house on fire.”
Kincade said the story began in 1996 when Millstein, 62, married Lois Jane Parks, the mother of the defendant. The couple moved to Mountain Home in 1998, and kept a condo in Maumelle.
Gary Parks was always always dependent financially on his mother, according to Kincade. Kincade said Millstein’s marriage became strained, and the majority of the strain was financial.
“The victim was plagued by money problems almost throughout the entire time of the marriage with Lois Jane Parks,” Kincade said to the jury. “You’ll learn that Gary Parks was, and always was, the voice for Lois Jane Parks, with Dr. Millstein over money.”
In June 2006, the money problems reached a boiling point, according to Kincade, who said Lois Jane Parks told her husband she needed $40,000 in dental work, and Millstein declined to pay for the work.
Kincade said Gary Parks was angry with Millstein because Parks felt Millstein was financially draining his mother.
Kincade said Parks and his mother, who shared a condo in Maumelle, came to Millstein’s Mountain Home residence three days prior to Millstein’s murder.
According to Kincade, Parks told investigators he had dinner with his stepfather on the Thursday before the murder.
During that dinner, Parks allegedly told Millstein that Millstein was in debt and things needed to change. Additionally, Parks reportedly told investigators Millstein borrowed $25,000 from Parks’ mother, and that Parks’ mother had paid Millstein’s clinic’s payroll for eight weeks previous to the murder.
As the investigation progressed, investigators learned Millstein’s wife had a trust with a life insurance policy on Millstein worth in excess of $500,000, Kincade told the jury.
Kincade went on to say Millstein told two witnesses during the week leading up to his murder that Parks had assaulted him, that he was scared of Parks, and that he was depressed.
A nurse who worked with Millstein who is expected to testify, will tell jurors, according to Kincade, that Millstein was so frightened of Parks that he spoke to her about purchasing a gun she owned.
On the Friday before the murder, Parks and his mother left Mountain Home and drove back to the Maumelle condo. At 9:40 p.m. that same night, Millstein left Hiram Shaddox, a nursing home on the Baxter Regional Medical Center campus.
The last time anyone had contact with Millstein was at 1 a.m. on the morning of June 17, 2006. A doctor at BRMC called Millstein to consult about a patient, Kincade told jurors.
Hospital personnel attempted and failed to contact Millstein beginning at 6 a.m. on June 17. Many people attempted to call Millstein over the course of the weekend, according to Kincade.
Parks told investigators two different stories about where he was on the night his stepfather was murdered, Kincade told jurors. In one version, Parks told an investigator he was at a party until 1 a.m. on June 17.
In the second version of the story, Parks told a different investigator he arrived home that night at 9 p.m. and never left the condo until the next day, Kincade told the jury.
Investigators discovered Parks went to a party in the Maumelle area. At 10:30 on Friday night, Parks turned off his cell phone and did not turn it back on again until 6 a.m. Saturday morning.
The time period Parks’ cell phone was turned off includes the time period — between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. Saturday morning — the state medical examiner says Millstein was killed.
Two witnesses, one with a criminal past and the other a Baxter County jailer, will testify Parks told them he killed his stepfather.
The defense
Defense attorney Danny Glover told jurors police were desperate to solve the case and manufactured evidence against Parks while excluding evidence that pointed to other suspects, including Millstein’s ex-wife, and current wife at the time of his death, Lois Jane Parks, Gary Parks’ mother.“They had some suspects, but they couldn’t tie any of them to the murder,” Glover told the jury. “They had Thea Millstein, Dr. Millstein’s first wife as a suspect.”
Thea Millstein threatened to kill Millstein, to stab him and his new wife, according to Glover, who said Dr. Millstein took out a restraining order against his former wife.
Thea Millstein was committed to a state hospital at least once because she was considered homicidal or suicidal, Glover told the jury.
Glover then told the jury Lois Jane Millstein, whom Kincade referred to as Lois Jane Parks, was also a potential suspect in Millstein’s murder.
“Jane, of all the people in the world, Jane had two husbands murdered,” Glover told the jury. “Not one, two. Her first husband Gerry Parks was shot down in 1992 on the streets of Little Rock, a crime that’s never been solved.”
According to Glover, in the months before Millstein’s death, Lois Jane Parks (Millstein) told her doctor she planned to divorce Millstein. She also told other individuals she was looking for another man, Glover told the jury.
“Witnesses overheard Jane say she wanted Millstein out of her life. Witnesses overheard Jane say she was to make a lot of money if Millstein died,” Glover said. “She received a substantial amount of money after he died.”
In 2011, Lois Jane Parks (Millstein) told Dr. Rhonda Parks that she killed Millstein, according to Glover. Dr. Rhonda Parks is the ex-wife of defendant Gary Parks.
“That’s a pretty good suspect,” Glover told the jury. “But for some strange reason, the police focused on Gary Parks. The police have already got their minds made up. They focused strictly on Gary Parks.”
Glover went on to tell the jury that despite calling in FBI experts, no blood evidence was found in Parks’ condo, his car, or on his person. No murder weapon was found. In addition, Glover told the jury Millstein suffered defensive wounds and no wounds were found on Parks.
Parks’ vehicle was not cleaned, according to Glover, who told the jury the vehicle was trashed and no attempt was made to clean it.
“This was a brutal murder, it was very bloody,” Glover said. “You’ll see blood transfers from the crime scene throughout the house. So whoever committed this crime would have blood on their body or on their hands. You find no blood on Gary Parks. you find no blood on Gary Parks’ clothes, no blood on any vehicle driven by Gary parks, and no blood in Gary Parks’ and Dr. Millstein’s condo.”
Parks was at the party on Friday night, Glover told the jury. He drank heavily at the party.
“He’s drunk. You’re going to see somewhere around midnight or so his cell phone pings off towers in the Little Rock area,” Glover said. “Again, you’ll hear testimony it pinged off a tower somewhere in the North Little Rock area around 6 a.m.”
“They want you to believe to believe Gary Parks left Maumelle sometime after midnight, in a drunken state, drives all the way to Mountain Home, does this crime, and gets back to Little Rock by 6 a.m. in that drunken state,” Glover told the jury.
“Gary Parks did not commit this crime,” Glover said in closing. “We ask at the end of this trial you find Mr. Parks not guilty.”
The trial is slated to continue at 9 a.m. today.
