Court Opinion

ID: 9642867
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 18:11:14.302879+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:55:46.352035
License: Public Domain

Darrell Hickman, Justice, dissenting. In effect the appellants challenge the power of the municipal court of Prairie Grove, a small community of 1,708 people located in Washington County, Arkansas, to adjudicate a criminal offense that occurred in the City of Springdale, Arkansas, a large community located in Washington County, Arkansas. The problem of concurrent jurisdiction of municipal courts in Arkansas is a growing one, and the fact that there is no constitutional or statutory provision to regulate the proliferation of municipal courts in Arkansas will continue to cause us a problem. Pulaski County Municipal Court v. Scott, 272 Ark. 115, 612 S.W.2d 297 (1981). The municipal court in Prairie Grove was created by Act 1171 of 1975, and it grants that municipal court county wide jurisdiction. It does require that the judge be a qualified elector of the county and apparently permits a countywide election; but, if no qualified person files then the city council of Prairie Grove will select the municipal judge. By Act 1171 the annual salary of the Prairie Grove municipal judge is $2,400. Undoubtedly, the responsibilities and duties of that court have increased, because the salary was at least tripled in 1979 by Act 14 which authorized an annual salary of not less than $7,200 nor more than $12,000. The appellants in this case have a valid claim. By what right does the City of Prairie Grove have to cause a person arrested in the City of Springdale, for an offense, to be subject to the judgment of Prairie Grove? The arresting officer, a deputy sheriff, took the case to the Prairie Grove Municipal Court and under the present scheme of things the arresting officer decides where a person will go. It is a ridiculous situation. In my judgment the Prairie Grove Municipal Court is not constitutionally valid and is nothing more than a city court with jurisdiction limited to the boundaries of the municipality; therefore, it had no jurisdiction to try this case, and it did not have venue over an offense committed in the City of Springdale. State ex rel. Reynolds v. Sande, 238 N.W. 504 (Wis. 1931); State ex rel. Wright v. Brown, 131 Neb. 239, 267 N.W. 466 (1936). I can think of no legitimate reason that a police officer could have for arresting a person within the city limits of one city, which has a municipal court, and transporting that person across the county to a small town which also has a municipal court. Certainly, the motive cannot be the administration of justice and is probably nothing more complicated than assisting the city in raising revenue. The attention of the parties is directed to our recent decision in the case of Littleton v. Blanton, 281 Ark. 395, 665 S.W.2d 239 (1984), which declared the Marked Tree Municipal Court illegal. The majority may opt to resolve some of these problems by using Ark. Stat. Ann. § 43-601 (Repl. 1977), which provides one arrested without a warrant shall be taken before the most convenient magistrate. I am authorized to say that Chief Justice Adkisson and Justice Purtle join in this dissent.