State of Arkansas v. Marcus Rackley – Conflict of Interest

4 02 2014

The Arkansas Supreme Court reversed and remanded for a new trial the case of Marcus Rackley.  Rackley was convicted of rape, incest, and a variety of other sexual offenses.  He and his wife retained an attorney to represent them both.  This common scenario became a problem at trial when the trial court permitted witnesses to testify about what Rackley’s wife told them.  Rackley’s wife had explanations that she could have provided the jury about those statements; however, the attorney advised her to invoke her 5th Amendment rights to protect herself.  In doing so, she prevented the jury from hearing any explanations for those statements.  Thus, the incriminating statements were used to convict Rackley.  The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that the attorney protected Rackley’s wife instead of Rackley, which created a conflict of interest.  

 


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Arkansas Bar Convention

13 06 2012

The past few weeks have been hectic.  I’ve been to the Arkansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers conference in Tunica and to the Arkansas Bar Convention in Hot Springs.  The Bar Convention is always a good time because I don’t go for the CLE and spend the majority of my time conversing with attorneys and judges I would otherwise not spend much time with.  This year I was fortunate to spend some of my time speaking with members of this State’s Supreme Court.

I hear a lot of people criticize this state’s judiciary because our judges are elected and the belief that it significantly colors their judgment.  I have certainly seen that in action at District and sometimes Circuit courts across Arkansas, but stand even more convinced that our highest court is well-deserving of their position.  The justice’s on the Arkansas Supreme Court make honest decisions even if I disagree with their reasoning and that might be the highest praise possible.  They all are willing to vigorously dissent from a colleague’s opinion, yet the justices all have nothing but admiration for one another.  Lastly, I sincerely believe they all care a great deal about making the right decisions.  For those reasons, I can’t be more proud to be in this State.  I say these things in spite of my monthly rants about the incorrect interpretation of the law and the dissipation of civil rights due to their decisions.  


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“Right Result, Wrong Reason” Doctrine Takes A Huge Hit

10 05 2012

The Arkansas Supreme Court announced four criminal decisions today.  Two of the decisions were appeals from Rule 37 Petitions.

In Barrow v. State, the trial court simply failed to make the required findings in the order and the Court remanded the case for the trial court to do so.  The ultimate result will likely be the same; nevertheless, it keeps judges from denying the petitions without due consideration.

In State v. Harrison, the State appealed an order for a new trial from a Rule 37 Petition.  Although it was a 5-2 decision, the most important aspect of the Court’s decision came from pages 14-15 in its throwaway paragraph.  Appellant sought to also give the Court alternative justification for affirming the trial court by re-arguing the points for a new trial rejected by the trial court.  The Arkansas Supreme Court refused to address these claims.  The Court held that a cross-appeal was necessary.  This is ABSOLUTELY wrong.  A cross-appeal is not necessary when all an appellant seeks to do is affirm the judgment for different reasons that were argued before.  A cross-appeal is only necessary when an appellant is seeking more relief than granted below.  Not only did the Court err but it did so without any authority.  The case cited as authority,Office of Child Support Enforcement v. Pyron, 363 Ark. 521, 215 S.W.3d 637 (2005), actually affirms the use of the “right result, wrong reason” doctrine.  In Pyron, the Court required a cross-appeal to request attorney fees, which were an additional relief not granted below.  While it did not impact the result of the case, this law threatens to severely impact future Rule 37 appeals in the works absent a cross-appeal.


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