Case Title: Riggins v. State

Citation: 

Docket Number: CR96-652

State: arkansas

Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Date: 1997-06-23T00:00:00Z

Document:
Sean RIGGINS v. STATE of Arkansas

CR 96-652                                          ___ S.W.2d ___

                    Supreme Court of Arkansas
                 Opinion delivered June 23, 1997


1.   Attorney & client -- plea agreement -- failure to communicate
     offer to defendant constitutes ineffective assistance of
     counsel. -- Failure to communicate a plea-agreement offer to
     a defendant has been held to be ineffective assistance of
     counsel.  

2.   Attorney & client -- trial court found no substantial evidence
     to support defendant's claim -- judge not required to believe
     all testimony. -- The trial court found that there was no
     substantial evidence to support the defendant's claim that his
     counsel failed to convey a plea offer to him; counsel's
     statement that he could not recall a plea offer to appellant
     did not constitute an admission of failure to convey such an
     offer; the trial court's statement that there was no
     substantial evidence that the offer was not conveyed was a
     clear indication that he did not regard appellant's testimony
     as credible on the point; the judge was not required to
     believe that testimony.  

3.   Criminal procedure -- request for postconviction relief denied
     -- trial court's decision not clearly erroneous. -- Although
     the trial court could have honored a request for leniency
     pursuant to Ark. Code Ann.  16-90-107(e) (1987), where
     appellant did not show that the outcome of his trial would
     have been different had his counsel requested consideration of
     the sentences received by others who were involved in the
     crime of which he was convicted, the trial court's denial of
     postconviction relief was not clearly erroneous.


          Appeal from Pulaski Circuit Court; John B.Plegge, Judge;
affirmed.
     Montgomery, Adams & Wyatt, PLC, by:  Dale E. Adams, for
appellant.
     Winston Bryant, Att'y Gen., by:  Kent G. Holt, Asst. Att'y
Gen., for appellee.

     David Newbern, Justice.
     Sean Riggins appeals from denial of his request for
postconviction relief sought pursuant to Ark. R. Crim. P. 37.  Mr.
Riggins was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to fifty
years' imprisonment on July 20, 1993.  We affirmed his conviction
in an opinion delivered on September 12, 1994.  Riggins v. State,
317 Ark. 636,