Opinion ID: 1728554
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: daughter's testimony

Text: For his next point, Verdict argues that the testimony of his daughter, Kimberly Myers, should have been suppressed because it was obtained in violation of the Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses, codified as Ark.Code Ann. § 16-43-403 (1987). Specifically, Verdict claims that the Arkansas judge's certificate was sent to California and that Myers was arrested there and placed in jail for three days before she was transported back to this state. Verdict maintains this jailing in California evidences non-compliance with § 16-43-403 and was clearly prejudicial to him as this was the only way the State could get his daughter to testify against him. The fallacy in Verdict's argument is that the State of Arkansas appears to have done everything according to Hoyle, and no evidence was offered to counter this. All that was presented to the circuit court was a verbal assertion by defense counsel that Ms. Myers was jailed in California. No proof of this was presented, and without proof, we have nothing to assess and consider. Moreover, we are mindful that § 16-43-403 does contemplate that the material witness be taken into custody in the foreign state. There is the further point that Verdict has no standing to raise an issue pertaining to a violation of Kimberly Myers's rights on her behalf. Price v. State, 313 Ark. 96, 856 S.W.2d 10 (1993). The circuit court did not err on this point.