Court Opinion

ID: 9760205
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:43:09.463763+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:09.286409
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, concurring in part, dissenting in part. I concur in that part of the majority opinion which affirms the sentence of capital felony murder wherein the penalty was set at death by electrocution. Also, I agree that it is plain error for the court to have sentenced the appellant to the lesser included offense of kidnapping and aggravated robbery in connection with the death of Donald Lee Teague. I dissent from that part of the majority opinion which fails to apply the plain error rule to the lesser included charges in the case involving E. L. Ward. For the Ward episode the court sentenced the appellant for attempted capital murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery. Although it is a mystery how he is going to serve any of these sentences if he is put to death, I nevertheless would like to see the record kept straight. By failing to recognize plain error at this time we are simply prolonging this case because we know with absolute certainty that the case is going to come back to us under a Rule 37 Petition and in all likelihood another full appeal. If we follow our present opinions, we will at that time set aside these sentences just as we finally did in the case of Rowe v. State, 275 Ark. 37, 627 S.W. 2d 16 (1982). We had also corrected the matters in Swaite v. State, 272 Ark. 128, 612 S.W. 2d 307 (1981); Singleton v. State, 274 Ark. 126, 623 S.W. 2d 180 (1981); and Earl v. State, 272 Ark. 5, 612 S.W. 2d 98 (1981). Because of the foregoing reasons I would correct the sentence imposed in this case by deleting the convictions of aggravated robbery and kidnapping with regard to the offenses against E. L. Ward as we did with the same charges relating to the offenses against Donald Lee Teague.