Arkansas Criminal Appeals

My boss, Bill James, always says it’s easy to do justice when it does not matter.  Daugherty v. State is certainly an example of that principle.

In Daugherty, Appellant challenged a conviction for speeding mph over the speed limit.  The radar gun clocked Appellant at 51 mph in a 35 mph zone.  The manual showed that the radar gun had an error rate of plus or minus 1 mph.  Therefore, Appellant argued that only 15 mph over fell within the range of error.

The Arkansas Court of Appeals agreed, and reversed and dismissed the conviction.  I give a lot of credit to the willingness of Appellant to pay attorney fees to appeal to circuit court then to the Arkansas Court of Appeals to fight a speeding ticket.