Court Opinion

ID: 9656869
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 20:05:01.83691+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:05:57.944370
License: Public Domain

TOM GLAZE, Justice, dissenting. My main concern regarding this court’s interpretation of its own rule, Ark. R. Crim. P. 37.5(i), is that it portends substantial delays in death-penalty cases. Such delays should not be countenanced, since they run counter to the defendant’s right to a speedy trial. While the majority opinion appears to rely on the Arkansas Effective Death Penalty Act of 1997 to support the court’s decision, the General Assembly emphasized it passed the Act because Arkansas’s system for carrying out a death sentence had been hopelessly fraught with endless litigation in state and federal court. The system undermined the deterrent value of the death penalty and imposed a needless financial burden on the state’s resources, while depriving death-row inmates of the right to obtain speedy relief on any meritorious constitutional claims. This court’s interpretation of its rule and the Arkansas Effective Death Penalty Act only insures that extended trials and delays will continue in the future. Such a result is adverse to everyone’s meritorious interests.