Justia Civil Rights Opinion Summaries

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of capital murder, attempted capital murder, and possession of a controlled substance. Defendant was sentenced to death for the murder conviction. The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s convictions and sentences, holding that the circuit court did not commit reversible error by (1) allowing the State to present evidence of bad acts and bad character; (2) admitting two photographs of a large tattoo on Defendant’s back; (3) permitting repeated showings of dash-camera videos depicting the crimes as they took place; (4) failing to sequester victim-impact witnesses during the guilt phase of trial; (5) overruling Defendant’s objection to a comment the prosecuting attorney made at the sentencing phase of trial; and (6) denying Defendant’s motion to prohibit the State from seeking or imposing the death penalty. View "Lard v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial in 2006, Appellant was convicted of capital murder, aggravated robbery, attempted arson, and theft of property. Appellant was sentenced to an aggregate term of life imprisonment without parole plus 636 years. In 2013, Appellant filed a pro se motion for a new sentencing hearing, asserting that her trial counsel erred by not informing her of a plea bargain offered by the prosecution until after she had been convicted. The trial court denied the motion. The Supreme Court affirmed on the basis that the petition was not timely filed, and therefore, the trial court had no jurisdiction to grant the relief sought. View "Young v. State" on Justia Law

Appellant, an inmate in the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC), filed a pro se petition for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief against Appellees, certain ADC correctional officers, alleging excessive use of force, negligence, failure to protect, and due-process and equal-protection violations. The circuit court granted Appellees' motion to dismiss on the ground that allowing Appellant to proceed with the action in forma pauperis would violate the three-strike rule embodied in Ark. R. Civ. P. 9(b). Appellant appealed, arguing that the circuit court erred in dismissing his complaint and that the "imminent danger" exception to the three-strike rule applied. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Appellant failed to demonstrate any error in the dismissal of his complaint. View "Pitts v. Rafter" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced as a habitual offender to life imprisonment. Appellant appealed, arguing that the circuit court erred in denying his motion to suppress an incriminating statement that he made after he unequivocally invoked his right to remain silent. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Appellant's statement that he had already told officers all the he knew during an interrogation was not an unambiguous and unequivocal invocation of his right to remain silent, and therefore, the trial court did not err in denying the motion to suppress. View "Fritts v. State" on Justia Law

Appellant entered a negotiated plea of guilty to multiple felony offenses. Four years later, Appellant filed a pro se petition for writ of error coram nobis, alleging that he was not afforded effective assistance of counsel in the plea proceeding and that the trial court did not follow proper procedure when the guilty plea was entered. The trial court denied the petition. The Supreme Court dismissed Appellant's appeal and declared his motion for extension of time to file his brief-in-chief moot, holding (1) Appellant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim was not within the purview of a coram-nobis proceeding; and (2) Appellant's argument regarding the trial court's procedure could have been raised at the time the plea was entered, and Appellant's claim that his plea was coerced did not demonstrate that a writ of error coram nobis should issue. View "Edwards v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of capital murder and three counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm from a vehicle. Because the State waived the death penalty, the circuit court automatically sentenced Defendant to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for his capital murder conviction. The circuit court also sentenced Defendant as a habitual offender to terms of imprisonment for the unlawful-discharge convictions and for a firearm enhancement. Defendant appealed, claiming that his counsel was ineffective for failing to object when the circuit court, instead of the jury, assessed the sentences for the firearm enhancement and the unlawful-discharge convictions. The circuit court denied the petition. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded because the circuit court failed to make adequate findings of fact on this issue. On remand, the circuit court again denied Defendant's petition for postconviction relief. The Supreme Court affirmed because Defendant did not assert any claim of prejudice, which made it unnecessary for the Court to review the circuit court's finding that counsel's representation was not deficient. View "Davenport v. State" on Justia Law

Petitioner filed this action against Respondents, her former employer and former supervisor, asserting retaliation claims pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. 16-123-108. After the case was removed to federal court, Respondent filed a motion to dismiss the claims as time-barred, arguing that the one-year statute of limitations period pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. 16-123-107(c)(3) of the Arkansas Civil Rights Act should apply. The federal district court asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to accept a certified question to decide the appropriate statute-of-limitations period applicable to section 16-123-108 claims. The Supreme Court answered by holding that the three-year statute-of limitations period provided in Ark. Code Ann. 16-56-105 applies to retaliation claims filed pursuant to section 16-123-108. View "Smith v. ConAgra Foods, Inc." on Justia Law

After a bench trial, Appellant was convicted of first- and second-degree battery. The court of appeals affirmed on appeal. Appellant subsequently filed a pro se petition for postconviction relief pursuant to Ark. R. Crim. P. 37.1, claiming that his trial counsel was ineffective for several reasons, that the circuit court erred in denying relief on his claims of constitutional error, and that the circuit court did not make required findings of fact and conclusions of law. The trial court denied the petition without a hearing. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court did not err in its judgment. View "Moten v. State" on Justia Law

Appellant entered a negotiated plea of guilty to two counts of murder in the first degree, attempted murder in the first degree, and battery in the first degree after crashing his truck into his estranged wife's vehicle, killing a pregnant passenger and her unborn daughter. A jury was empaneled to determine Appellant's sentence. The Supreme Court affirmed the sentence imposed, holding (1) Appellant's argument that the circuit court erred in admitting certain Ark. R. Evid. 404(b) evidence in the sentencing phase was not preserved for appeal; and (2) the circuit court did not err by failing to grant a mistrial after certain comments were made by the prosecutor during closing statements. View "Johnson v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial in 1992, Appellant was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. In 2011, Appellant filed a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to Act 1780 of 2001, seeking scientific testing of a cigarette butt found in an ashtray at the victim's home where the victim's body was discovered. The trial court denied the petition. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the testing of the cigarette butt would not produce new material evidence or raise a reasonable probability that Appellant did not commit the murder, and therefore, Appellant was not entitled to have the cigarette butt tested pursuant to Act 1780. View "Hall v. State" on Justia Law