Court Opinion

ID: 7815498
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-07 17:34:40.678355+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:28:40.587079
License: Public Domain

Jim Johnson, Associate Justice, concurring. After prayerful consideration of this entire case on its merits, and after untold hours reviewing the law, I concur with the result reached by the majority. This conclusion is based upon the law and facts in the case and not upon the reasoning set forth in the majority opinion. The Attorney General argues that neither this Court nor any Judge thereof has the power to suspend an execution after the date has been set by the Governor. The majority opinion in a footnote properly refutes this argument in the following language: “But such argument overlooks some of the provisions of Act No. 55 of 1913 — as now found in § 43-2617 Ark. Stats. — which provision uses this language: ‘. . . a writ of error from the Supreme Court, or should the execution of the sentence be stayed by any competent judicial proceeding, notice of . . . such writ of error or stay of execution shall he served upon the superintendent of the penitentiary . . . and the said superintendent shall yield obedience to the same . . . ’ The said Act of 1913 constituted legislative recognition. of the inherent judicial power, so the § 43-2621 and § 43-2623 Ark. Stats, cannot have the strict meaning argued for them.” thereby conceding that I, as a member of this Court, had authority to grant the stay of execution until the full Court could consider the case upon its merits. This authority was not granted to this Court or a member thereof by the Acts cited by the majority. The Supreme Court of this state is a court created by the Constitution and as such it possesses the inherent power to do all acts necessary to enable it to effectually exercise the jurisdiction conferred upon it. The authority to review and revise necessarily includes the power to enforce the law and administer justice. Independent of any statutory provision, this Court has the power to so frame its judgments and orders as to secure justice to litigants within its jurisdiction since the right of appeal carries with it a right to a judgment awarding justice according to law. The judiciary is an independent department of state government. It derives none of its judicial power from either of the other departments. It is true the General Assembly may create courts under the Constitution but it cannot confer on them judicial power for it possesses none to confer. Therefore, it must be concluded that a member of this Court has the inherent judicial power to stay executions. Conceding that I, as a member of this Court, had the authority to issue the stay of execution, the question becomes, was it proper for me to use that authority. The majority opinion says: “The stay order should not have been granted”. In so holding, the majority came to this conclusion after more than 80 days of deliberation and consumed 10 pages in so stating. It must be remembered that I had less than two hours to consider this matter of such grave importance involving an issue of life or death. It would have been presumptuous of me to have assumed the grave responsibility of denying the petition without allowing the other members of the Court to review the same. As can be readily seen, in that short span of less than two hours it would have been impossible for me to have reviewed the authorities and the facts in this case and reached an intelligent conclusion. Particularly is this true in view of the concession by the majority that the first Leggett ease alone contains 856 pages. Given the opportunity and time which the majority has had, and which I have now had, no doubt I would have reached the same conclusion that I have now reached. This petitioner was to have been executed within a matter of hours from the time the petition was presented to me. I chose then that if I should make a mistake it would be made in favor of life rather than death. Five members of this Court on the day following the issuance of the stay in this case met to review the action taken by me. After oral argument by the Attorney General and the attorney for petitioner, the majority present refused to disturb the stay until the case could be briefed and heard. Let us assume that after investigation the petitioner was proven to be right and I had denied the relief sought. The result would have been the execution of the appellant and an investigation of his case afterwards. I shudder to think of the consequences that I and each member of this Court would have suffered. The most that we could have done then would have been to have reversed the judgment and to that extent vindicate the memory of the deceased. This is not the justice contemplated by the law. I said then: “If I allowed this young man to die without granting him the benefit of every legal recourse available to him, my conscience would not let me escape the feeling that I had been a party to a lynching.” I gave the appellant the benefit of every legal recourse available to him that was within my power to give. His petition has now been prayerfully considered by the full Court on its merits and found to fall short of the requirements of the law. My conscience is clear. Therefore, in respectfully concurring with the majority opinion in the results reached, nothing, is said in the reasoning of the majority opinion that would ever cause me in the future under the same or similar circumstances to deny to any person, white or hlack, the same relief granted petitioner herein. For the reasons stated above, I respectfully concur.