Court Opinion

ID: 9765470
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:03:32.864916+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:10.242387
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, dissenting. The majority has again decided to dabble in some social legislation formerly considered prohibited by the separation of powers provisions of the federal and state constitutions. Moreover, the majority opinion ignores this court’s precedent and establishes the law on this subject arbitrarily and without deliberation from a detached and neutral position. The majority opinion appears, however, to recognize the portents of possible future injustice in its candid admission: “We recognize the potential for harm to which this interpretation gives sufferance.” It appears that the opinion has become the vehicle by which the majority vents its frustration with the criminal justice system in general. My greatest fear concerning its opinion is that it will serve as an invitation for disgruntled politicians and well-meaning citizens to proceed with haste to obtain the conviction of their opponents and unpopular officials. The election process is the proper and natural means of redress in such cases. On the other hand, the criminal justice system is the proper and necessary vehicle for bringing corrupt office-holders to the bar of justice. By these statements I do not mean to imply that a duly-convicted felon should not be removed from office. In my opinion, we have not been granted any greater degree of knowledge or wisdom than our predecessors on this court who have ruled on this issue. I am not prepared to say that there is no basis for the earlier opinions of the Arkansas Supreme Court holding that a “conviction” used to oust a public official must be a “final” one. To read these opinions in any other way would, at least partially, deny the right of appeal to the person removed from office. I am not aware of large numbers of elected public officials presently serving in positions of trust while appealing felony convictions. The appellant is the only example that comes to mind. This is not a judicial question — it is, rather, a legislative one. It certainly does not involve rules of procedure or other matters normally subject to the powers of the judiciary. Even if the correction of what we perceive to be a social ill were within our power, we should proceed, as we have failed to do in the present case, with greater deliberation. Henceforth, timely notice of intention to remove a public official from office will apparently not be required, nor, evidently, will due process. The appellant was given less than 24 hours notice of the hearing to remove him from office. In such circumstances, why not allow the trial judge, or a municipal judge, or even a lawyer pulled off the street to immediately remove an officer who has been found guilty? This expeditious procedure would have the advantage of avoiding another hearing. Better still, why don’t we proclaim a law providing that, upon conviction, the official shall automatically be removed from office? If that proves too cumbersome, we could decree that any public official arrested and charged with a felony shall at once be removed from office. After all, anyone who finds himself charged must surely be guilty. A reasonable interpretation of Article 5, Section 9, of the Arkansas Constitution gives the word “final” the meaning our predecessors have given it on many occasions. It would certainly be in keeping with the spirit of the law to interpret final judgment to mean exhaustion of the process of direct appeal — that is, when the appellate court affirms the conviction. Post-judgment motions and appeals would be rendered meaningless if we attach a literal construction to the word “conviction.”