The Sebastian County Circuit Court recently set trial dates for a suspected child rapist and a man suspected of manslaughter and also accepted a plea from a child pornography user.

Manuel Dean Langston Jr., 54, was arrested in April 2018 for child pornography and Thursday pleaded guilty to the charges. He was sentenced to five years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to four counts of “distributing, possessing, or viewing of a matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.”

The sentencing order also calls for five years of probation after his release and registration as a sex offender.

According to an affidavit, Langston’s girlfriend at the time alerted police in February 2018 she had found child pornography on his cell phone. The affidavit states over 500 images “appeared to be child pornography” and 55 of those images were confirmed images of child pornography through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Child rape trail date set

James Everett Hughes, 34, was arrested July 31 for suspicion of raping a female child under the age of 14 in May 2017. A trial date was recently set for the week of Jan. 13. The offense allegedly took place when the child was 9, according to a court document based on a rape hot line report.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Linda Ward with the Sebastian County Prosecutor's Office said the Class Y felony Hughes is charged with carries a sentencing of 10 to 40 years, or life. The court set a $100,000 cash bond on the charge. Ward said Monday Hughes had not yet been able to post bond.

Manslaughter trial date set

The trail date for Daniel Ray Hernandez, the Fort Smith man suspected in the July 22 death of Jose Botello, was also recently set for the week of Jan. 13.

Hernandez was arrested the same day of the homicide and charged with reckless manslaughter. Detectives believe Hernandez was “solely responsible” for the death of Botello, who was found that evening in the 1400 block of North Greenwood Avenue with a stab wound in his chest and later died in an area hospital.