Arkansas Code in an Iphone App

For those attorneys out there with an Iphone, the ARCode09 app is a must have.  It is the   Arkansas Code with both Search and Browse capabilities.  I have it and it is killer.

Click here to see it in iTunes.

Arkansas Bar Association Posts Financial Handbook for Young Arkansans

Its free so 18 year olds will love it.  Heck, its a recession. We ALL love free stuff.

The Arkansas Bar Association has published a new handbook for young Arkansans. I haven’t reviewed it but the table of contents looks exhaustive.

Click here for the entire free book.

Arkansas Judicial Site Posts New Juror Orientation Video

I have two comments about the video.

First, it is very well done.  It would be a shame if the quality was so shoddy that it was a distraction to the prospective jurors. I am impressed with the quality.

Second, I think any trial lawyer should watch it.  It is the first thing the jurors hear.  Why would you not want to see what information they are getting?  I say this because in my jurisdiction, the attorneys are not in the courtroom when the jurors watch the video.

You can watch the video here.

For Arkansas Attorneys: New Appeal Rules

The Arkansas Supreme Court released new rules for Appellate Briefs.  Make sure you comply.  Among the changes, the rules allow for an increase in pages allowed (30) and font size is now 14.

Read the new rules in their entirety by clicking here.

REVERSED AND DISMISSED! I won an appeal for my client today.

The appeal was based on the trial court’s failure to exclude an alleged accomplice’s testimony from consideration when making its ruling.  Ark. Code. Ann. 16-89-111(e)(1)(a) states that before a conviction can be had on the testimony of an accomplice, there must be corroborating evidence tending to connect the defendant with the commission of the crime.

The Arkansas Appeal court agreed that there was scant or no evidence connecting my client to the commission of the crime.

You can read the opinion here.

The case was tried at the level by Bill Lewellen and myself.

The local paper, The Evening Times, reported on the story here.

Berryville Attorney Arrested on Meth charges

BERRYVILLE — Lawyer Cindy Baker, 36, was arrested on charges two counts of delivering methamphetamine Friday night in a raid of her home and office on U. S. Highway 62 in downtown Berryville.

The amount of the drug recovered from her office-home was not made public. Other items seized included “syringes that appear to contain blood,” according to court records.

Sheriff Bob Grudek said Monday that there had been rumors about Baker but “suspicion is not sufficient” and a case had to be made that would stand up in court.

Investigator J. J. Reddick’s affidavit for search and arrest warrants says an informant wired for audio and video surveillance went to Baker’s office-home Oct. 22, and the two went over Baker’s ledger showing what the informant owed Baker for previous methamphetamine purchases.

The two discussed a previous transaction in which Baker supplied the informant with seven grams of methamphetamine and told the informant to keep one gram and sell the rest for Baker, the affidavit says.

The informant also wore a wire in the two transactions that prompted the charges of delivery of methamphetamine, a Class Y felony, which is the most serious level under Arkansas law:

• The sheriff said the confidential informant bought a gram of what is believed to be methamphetamine for $200 from Baker at her office-home Wednesday.

The bills turned up when authorities seized $1,000 in cash from suspected meth supplier Mynor Jimmy Aleman-Gonzalez later the same day, the sheriff said. Jail records show Aleman-Gonzalez, 24, of Green Forest was jailed Wednesday on charges of delivering a controlled substance.

• The same confidential informant bought a half gram of what was believed to be methamphetamine from Baker for $50 Friday, the sheriff said. He said the informant gave Baker a $100 bill and received $50 in change.

Search and arrest warrants were issued, and the $100 bill that the confidential informant gave her for the drug earlier Friday was taken from Baker during her drug arrest, the sheriff said.

The charges include two counts of delivering methamphetamine, a count of conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance and delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of Berryville High School and First Methodist Church.

Read more here.

One of the “Little Rock Nine” has painful return.

Known as the “Little Rock Nine,” they were harassed and ostracized by most of the white students who had opposed the school’s integration. For many years, LaNier remained silent about the turmoil she endured while becoming the first black girl to graduate from the school — until now.

Read the entire story in the Washington Post.

Arkansas gets a “C” grade for protecting the legal rights of children

A recently released study shows that Arkansas has a grade of “C” when it comes to protecting the legal rights of children. The study does say that Arkansas is “improved.”

The peer-reviewed study — A Child’s Right to Counsel: A National Report Card on Legal Representation for Abused and Neglected Children — was released today on Capitol Hill by First Star and the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law.

The whole story is here.

Joint Custody in Arkansas

From an article by Bodenhamer in a California Law Review article:

There are four criteria that parents must meet before obtaining a joint custody decree.

The first one is that it is a mutual proposal; almost never will a joint custody decree be had in a contested case.

Second, the parents of other custodies must demonstrate more maturity than normal.  They both must demonstrate the emotional stability necessary to make joint custody work.

Third, they must geographically live close to each other.  If the child is about to start, or has started, school they should live in the same school district.

Fourth, there must be a fair division of periods relating to events in the child’s life, such as birthday, school vacation, Christmas, etc.

On rare occasions  the children are divided  between the parents or other custodies.

Two factors contribute to these rulings.  The age and desire of the children.  If the children are becoming independent enough to cause the judge concern about their running away, and if they simply will not live together, then the judge will split them.

Supreme Court weighs Arkansas lethal injection rules

By: Associated Press – Texarkana Gazette -

Published: 10/09/2009

LITTLE ROCK—The Arkansas Supreme Court listened Thursday as lawyers argued whether a new law fulfills its aim by clarifying the state’s lethal injection procedures or puts death-row inmates at greater risk of suffering unconstitutional harm.

A federal public defender for death-row inmate Frank Williams Jr. claimed the new law puts additional mental stress on all condemned inmates, and public defender Josh Lee claimed it strips away regulations that required the state prison system to use a three-drug cocktail approved by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Under the new statute, we have no way of knowing what procedure will be used,” Lee said. Without that oversight, he said the risk of botched executions grows. He mentioned a recent Ohio case where an inmate undergoing a failed lethal injection wept as executioners stuck him with needles as many as 18 times.

Nevertheless, the justices’ questioning appeared to give the state an edge.

Justin Allen, the state’s chief deputy attorney general, said there would be no repeat of the Ohio case in Arkansas. Allen said the new law passed by the Legislature this year made public the amount and kind of drugs used by executioners and that the state’s prison director couldn’t use “rat poison” or anything else to execute prisoners, as he would be subject immediately to a federal lawsuit.

“As a practical matter, Larry Norris or any other prison director would be out of his mind not to follow” the law, Allen said.

Justice Robert L. Brown said he agreed with Allen’s point, one of the few moments that indicated what the justices thought.

The justices gave no indication of when they might rule.

Federal public defenders representing Williams filed the lawsuit in 2008, as their client faced a scheduled execution. They argued the state prison system had altered its execution protocols without following a requirement that state agencies offer notifications and hold public hearings when they change administrative rules.

A lower court judge issued an injunction halting Williams’ execution and the case quickly made its way to the state’s highest court. While there, lawmakers passed a law freeing the state prison system from following the public notification and hearing rule when it came to execution