Opinion ID: 1688330
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Constitutionality of the bifurcated sentencing proceedings pursuant to Act 535 of 1993

Text: For her second point of error, Ms. Diffee asserts that Arkansas's bifurcated sentencing procedures in Act 535 of 1993, codified in Ark.Code Ann. §§ 5-4-103 (Repl.1993) and XX-XX-XXX (Supp.1993), under which she was sentenced, are violative of the ex post facto clause in the United States Constitution. We recently put this issue to rest in the case of Williams v. State, 318 Ark. 846, 887 S.W.2d 530 (1994). In Williams , we specifically held that: Arkansas's new bifurcated sentencing laws do not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause because they do not criminalize conduct that was previously non-criminal, do not increase the severity or harshness of the punishment for the offenses [defendant] committed and do not deprive [defendant] of a defense that was available to him at the time he committed the offenses with which he was charged. Statutory changes in the mode of trial or the rules of evidence, which do not deprive the accused of a defense and which operate only in a limited and unsubstantial manner to his disadvantage, are not prohibited. Nor is a statute prohibited which changes the rules of evidence after an indictment so as to render admissible against the accused evidence previously held inadmissible. Because the penalty or sentence authorized under the prior and new sentencing statutes remains the same as applied in [defendant's] situation, we conclude any change was merely procedural and not substantively prejudicial or an ex post facto violation. (Citations omitted.) Ms. Diffee also asserts that the bifurcated sentencing laws violate Art. 2, § 17 of the Arkansas Constitution, yet, like the appellant in Ridenhour v. State, 305 Ark. 90, 805 S.W.2d 639 (1991), she has failed to present us with any argument showing us why we should interpret the ex post facto doctrine in the Arkansas Constitution in manner contrary to that of the ex post facto Clause of the United States Constitution. Thus, Ms. Diffee's argument on this point must fail.