Court Opinion

ID: 9667854
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:56:27.320822+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:41.200575
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, dissenting. The appellant was charged by information with first degree murder pursuant to Ark. Stat. Ann. § 41-2205. Before the scheduled trial he decided to plead guilty. The court accepted the guilty plea; however, it sentenced him for capital felony murder pursuant to § 41-4701, a crime for which appellant had never been charged. This Court has reached the pinnacle of affirmance in this case by upholding the finding of guilt for a crime which was never charged. So far as I am concerned, the sentence of life without parole is as void as a death sentence issued by a municipal judge. Good-bye due process and equal protection.