Court Opinion

ID: 9772956
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:34:00.513899+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:49.498467
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, concurring. I agree with Mr. Justice Dudley’s concurring opinion. However I wish to point out two additional statutes which support his conclusion. Arkansas Stat. Ann. § 41-803 (1) (Supp. 1983) states: “No defendant convicted of an offense shall be sentenced otherwise than in accordance with this Article.” Arkansas Stat. Ann. § 41-1201 (1) (Repl. 1977) states in part: “If a defendant pleads or is found guilty of an offense other than capital murder, murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, first degree rape, kidnapping or aggravated robbery, the court may suspend imposition of sentence or place the defendant on probation.” The majority now reads “D.W.I.” into the exceptions. I believe the General Assembly would have changed Ark. Stat. Ann. §§ 41-803 (1) and 41-1201 (1) if there had been an intent to do away with the present sentencing options available to the courts. Therefore, I am of the opinion that the courts should not be legislatively restrained by this court. The majority correctly quotes from the statute here in question and it clearly states a person found guilty may be imprisoned on a first offense for up to one (1) year. That provision is plainly discretionary.