Opinion ID: 1448436
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Amended revocation petition

Text: Appellant's sole point on appeal challenges the trial court's decision permitting the State to amend its revocation petition by resubmitting evidence of probation violations that the appellate court determined were improperly introduced in appellant's first revocation hearing. Hill makes two distinct arguments in support of his position. First, he claims that the trial court failed to follow the appellate court's mandate reversing and remanding the case for proceedings according to law and not inconsistent with the opinion of the Court. Second, Hill asserts that the doctrine of res judicata barred the State's amendment.
Hill cites Ferguson v. Green, 266 Ark. 556, 587 S.W.2d 18 (1979), to establish that the trial court erred on remand by permitting the State to amend its revocation petition. We explained in Ferguson that when a judgment is reversed for error in the proceedings and remanded for proceedings according to law and not inconsistent with the opinion of the court, we are not reversing or vacating the trial court proceedings that occurred prior to the stated error. Ferguson, 266 Ark. at 568, 587 S.W.2d at 25-26. Instead, we intend for the trial court to progress the cause anew from the point that the error was adjudicated. Id. Simply, the trial court should resume the proceedings from the point at which the reversible error occurred. According to the appellate court's decision in Hill v. State, 65 Ark. App. 131, 985 S.W.2d 342 (1999), reversible error occurred when Hill was denied due process at the point when the State was permitted to introduce evidence of probation violations not enumerated in the petition revoke. Hill, 65 Ark. App. at 132, 985 S.W.2d at 342. Thus, the reversible error occurred after the original petition was filed and at the point when the additional violations were introduced into evidence and Hill objected to the lack of notice. Although Hill now argues that the trial court erred on remand by revisiting the State's petition and permitting amendment, he failed to make a timely objection at the May 6, 1999, hearing. In fact, the trial court provided appellant's counsel with the opportunity to be heard at the beginning of the hearing. Rather than objecting to the State's amended petition or addressing the scope of the appellate court's mandate, counsel stated that he was ready to proceed. Moreover, Hill failed to object to the amended petition when it was filed by the State on April 9, 1999, approximately one month before the revocation hearing. The State correctly notes that Hill objected only to the introduction of the three DWI convictions as evidence but not to their inclusion in the petition. It is well settled that an appellant may not change the grounds for objection on appeal but is limited by the scope and nature of his objections and arguments presented at trial. Ayers v. State, 334 Ark. 258, 264, 975 S.W.2d 88, 91 (1998). Moreover, we cannot consider arguments raised for the first time on appeal. Wallace v. State, 326 Ark. 376, 379, 931 S.W.2d 113, 115 (1996). Hill's failure to preserve his argument by timely objections constitutes a waiver and precludes our appellate review.
The second prong of appellant's argument is that res judicata prohibits the State from seeking a subsequent revocation on the basis of violations not enumerated in its prior petition. Essentially, Hill asserts that the trial court erred by permitting the State to amend its petition by adding violations that it could have pled in its initial motion. Res judicata, or claim preclusion, bars the relitigation of a subsequent suit when (1) the first suit resulted in a judgment on the merits; (2) the first suit was based on proper jurisdiction; (3) the first suit was fully contested in good faith; (4) both suits involved the same claim or cause of action which was litigated or could have been litigated but was not; and (5) both suits involved the same parties or their privies. Fariss v. State, 303 Ark. 541, 544, 798 S.W.2d 103, 104 (1990). If applied in this context, res judicata would prevent the State from raising any issue in the second revocation hearing that it could, but did not, raise at the first hearing. Consequently, the State's decision to enumerate only the October 31, 1997, DWI offense, in the first petition would bar it from citing additional offenses in an amended petition. However, an initial prerequisite to applying res judicata is that the first suit resulted in a judgment on the merits. An illustrative case aptly presents this principle. In Lincoln v. State, 287 Ark. 16, 696 S.W.2d 316 (1985), this court considered Lincoln's second appeal from his conviction for attempted first-degree murder. Previously, the Court of Appeals reversed his conviction following his first appeal. See Lincoln v. State, 12 Ark.App. 46, 670 S.W.2d 819 (1984). In discussing the background of Lincoln's case, we noted that before the first trial, the trial court refused the State's request to amend the information to allege prior convictions because it was filed `too close to trial for the defense to be prepared.' Lincoln, 287 Ark. at 17, 696 S.W.2d at 317. However, on retrial, the State again asked to amend the information to allege three prior convictions. Id. This time, the trial court granted the State's request. Id. In his second appeal, Lincoln, like Hill, argued that res judicata prevented the State's subsequent amendment of the information because the trial court's earlier decision controlled the issue on retrial. Lincoln, 287 Ark. at 17, 696 S.W.2d at 317. In holding that the doctrine of res judicata did not apply, we acknowledged that the factual basis of the trial court's decision, i.e., the timeliness of the proposed amendment, was no longer a factor in the later trial. Id. Moreover, we observed that the amendment was not denied at the first trial because it was wrong, or illegal, but simply because it was untimely. Id. Here, the appellate court reversed Hill's first probation revocation because he was denied due process. Hill, 65 Ark.App. at 132, 985 S.W.2d at 342 (1999). The court remarked that the State's failure to timely notify Hill of its basis for the proposed revocation was fundamentally unfair because Hill could not properly prepare for the hearing without knowing in advance what charges of misconduct were to be investigated. Hill, 65 Ark.App. at 133, 985 S.W.2d at 343 (1999). In short, the revocation was reversed on appeal simply because the State's introduction of the additional violations was untimely. Id. Given our holding in Lincoln, we conclude that the reversal on due-process grounds was not a final judgment on the merits, and res judicata does not apply. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's May 6, 1999, judgment revoking appellant's probation.