Kidnapper gets 99 years

Christin Coyne CNHI The Weatherford Democrat Mon Feb 06, 2012, 08:00 AM CST

PARKER COUNTY — Past actions caught up with 43-year-old Chuck Little Friday when a Parker County jury gave the repeat felon 99 years in prison on an enhanced kidnapping charge.

The jury found Little, who declined a court-appointed attorney and represented himself with help from a court-appointed standby attorney, guilty of kidnapping and burglary of a habitation Thursday and sentenced him Friday to 99 years and 50 years in prison, respectively.

Earlier in the week, Michelle Bainbridge, 23, told jurors that Little entered her home without permission and held her at knife point on March 31, 2011, threatening to kill her if she didn’t move back in with him, according to testimony presented during the trial this week.

“It wasn’t nothing but a little ol’ domestic dispute,” Little told the investigator in an interview played for jurors.

Little was arrested the same day of the incident following a manhunt after he fled the scene. He has been held in the Parker County Jail since his arrest.

The sentences were enhanced because the jury found he had multiple prior convictions, including a conviction related to a 1989 incident similar to the current case.

Deloris Hibbard, Little’s former mother in-law testified Friday that Little broke in to her home and held her hostage in 1989.

According to testimony presented Friday, Hibbard believed Little was attempting to use her to reach his wife and child, who were in a women’s shelter.

Hibbard told jurors Little bound her with telephone cords, and an investigators testified they found corresponding marks on her arms and legs when they arrived at the home.

After Arlington police called the house to check on her, Little threatened to kill her and himself, Hibbard told jurors.

He told her she wasn’t supposed to be afraid to die, Hibbard told jurors, adding that she then laughed. Little then fled the house and police arrived later, according to Hibbard.

After a manhunt and foot pursuit, investigators caught Little and found two BB guns tied to the case in the home were he was staying, according to testimony.

Little, who had already been convicted of four other felonies and served time in prison, was sentenced to 13 years in prison on a first degree felony burglary of a habitation conviction in the 1989 case.

However, while he was in prison, he was convicted of possession of a deadly weapon in a penal institution, according to evidence presented to the jury.

Little’s questions and witness responses elicited laughter several times Friday from the jury and courtroom.

When Little asked a former Arlington police investigator how he was able to tie physical evidence collected from the scene of a 1989 burglary to Little, the investigator replied, “Because you told me.”

Little’s mother testified Friday that he had recently graduated as valedictorian of his class, donated thousands of dollars to charitable causes and was pursuing youth ministry.

During closing arguments, assistant district attorneys Robert Duboise and Nikki Morton requested the jury return a life sentence for Little.

The six-man, six-woman jury deliberated over an hour Friday afternoon during the sentencing phase of the trial. Bainbridge was present in the courtroom Friday.

“This jury’s stiff sentences ensure that Mr. Little will not terrorize women in their own homes in the foreseeable future,” Assistant District Attorney Morton said in a statement released after the verdict. “I commend both of Mr. Little’s victims for having the strength to tell their stories to this jury.”

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