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.

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.

Last week the Ingham County Circuit Court in Michigan entered a judgment ordering AT&T Michigan to pay ACD Telecom $7,994,590 in damages for breach of contract.

Under the contract, ACD and AT&T had mutually agreed to let their customers under long-term contracts switch their services to the other company without having to pay the early termination fees in their contracts. Most commercial telecommunication services are purchased on term contracts with substantial termination penalties, much like a consumer cell phone contract. This makes it difficult and expensive to switch phone companies when new technology, lower prices or better services become available.

ACD says AT&T refused to honor the agreement and charged two of the customers that switched from AT&T to ACD early termination penalties in excess of $40,000 each.

AT&T then sued these two companies to collect early termination penalties. One of the two companies, Lansing-based ARQ Internet, went out of business in the face of the termination charges AT&T assessed in breach of the contract.

Read the whole story here.

This from a a story by Joan McCoy:

Some officials in Jacksonville say it might be time for the city attorney’s position to become full time. But when it comes to city attorneys in Arkansas, part time and full time are just words that have only the weight the city councils decide to give them.

State law says first-class cities with mayor-council governments shall elect city attorneys every four years. But how much those attorneys are paid and their exact duties vary from city to city and appear to be based as much on tradition as law.

Buck Gibson, elected as the city attorney in Searcy in 2002, prepares ordinances and resolutions for the city council, prosecutes in district and circuit court and advises the mayor and council on legal matters.

He is considered a full-time city attorney, but Gibson says his $22,000 take-home pay for the job doesn’t begin to support him in the manner that people mistakenly believe lawyers are accustomed. His real income is from his private practice, he says.

In contrast, Robert Bamburg, Jacksonville’s part-time city attorney, is paid $64,432 for services similar to those Gibson provides. And like Gibson, Bamburg has a private practice.

Read the whole story here.

I am excited about me new website that just went up last week.  It has all the relevant info about my practice and how to contact me.  The site also contains other helpful information for clients and prospective clients.

Check it out at www.shaunhair.com

The Connecticut Law Tribune recently did a story on the threat of texting.

In its short lifespan, texting has been blamed for all sorts of societal ills — for distracting drivers on roads, students in school and workers who should be minding their jobs.

But now it appears that text messages are moving, at times, from an occasional annoyance to something more sinister. Texting is becoming the latest way for angry people to harass or threaten others, especially estranged spouses or girl- or boyfriends.

I have been concerned as I see this trend grow.  I am speaking of the trend of criminalization of speech, i.e. harassment charges, terroristic threatening charges, etc.   I do not condone the behavior, but at some point, just saying things should be protected by the Constitution.  Being a jackass doesn’t necessarily make you a criminal.

Don’t answer your phone. Don’t read your text.  Call the police when actual threats take place such as trespass and assault.  Otherwise, know that life is is difficult  but those difficulties shouldn’t always end in jail time for the offender.

The Obama administration announces that they will no longer seek to exercise federal prohibitions against States allowing pot smoking under certain circumstances.

Chalk me up as one more conservative who does not have a problem going green.

Federal drug agents won’t pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued Monday by the Obama administration.

Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law.

The guidelines to be issued by the department do, however, make it clear that agents will go after people whose marijuana distribution goes beyond what is permitted under state law or use medical marijuana as a cover for other crimes, the officials said.

The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes…

This is a major step forward,” said Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project. “This change in policy moves the federal government dramatically toward respecting scientific and practical reality.”

Read the entire story  here.

UPDATE:  Top L.A. Prosecutor Steve Cooley is not listening.

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.

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.

This story illustrates the absurdity that often goes on inside the prison system.

Shawanna Nelson, a nonviolent offender, was 29 years old and six months pregnant when she arrived in Arkansas’s McPherson Unit prison in 2003. When she went into labor, she was taken to a civilian hospital. Although there was no reason to consider her a flight risk, her legs were shackled to a wheelchair, and then, while she went through labor, to the sides of a hospital bed.

Ms. Nelson testified that the shackles prevented her from moving her legs, stretching or changing positions during the most painful part of her labor. She offered evidence that the shackling had caused a permanent hip injury, torn stomach muscles, an umbilical hernia that required an operation and extreme mental anguish.

In a suit against prison officials, Ms. Nelson charged that her Eighth Amendment right to be free of cruel and unusual punishment had been violated. She won an early ruling from the trial court, but a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit rejected her suit. Now the full appeals court has reversed that decision, ruling, with a 6-to-5 vote, that a jury could find that Ms. Nelson’s shackling was unconstitutional. The court relied in part on a 2002 Supreme Court holding that Alabama’s practice of tying prisoners to a hitching post violated the Eighth Amendment.

Read the New York Times article here.