Court Opinion

ID: 9748278
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:58:45.474776+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:33.807547
License: Public Domain

JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice, dissenting. Based on the principle of stare decisis, I concur in the decision that S.J.’s testimony was admissible. I also concur with the majority that the circuit court abused its discretion in admitting into evidence two Texas judgments convicting Kelley of “indecency with a child younger then seventeen years of age.” However, I respectfully dissent to the majority’s conclusion that admission of the two Texas judgments was harmless error. The majority concludes that Kelley’s conviction in the present case may be affirmed because admission of the Texas judgments constituted harmless error, given that the evidence of guilt is overwhelming and the error in admitting the Texas judgments is slight. The majority states that, “[t]o determine if the error is slight, we can look to see if the defendant is prejudiced. This court has consistently held that the uncorroborated testimony of a child-rape victim is sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction.” (Citations omitted.) This analysis, which has been followed by this court in a number of opinions in recent years, is in error. The majority asserts that because Kelley did not object to admission of the Texas convictions on constitutional grounds, the constitutional standard is inapplicable. The majority cites to Abernathy v. State, 325 Ark. 61, 925 S.W.2d 380 (1996), and Griffin v. State, 322 Ark. 206, 909 S.W.2d 625 (1995), for this proposition. Both cases hold that where a defendant fails to make a constitutional objection or constitutional argument on appeal, this court need not evaluate the admission of this evidence under the constitutional standard of harmless error beyond a reasonable doubt. Abernathy, 325 Ark. at 66, 925 S.W.2d at 382; Griffin, 322 Ark. at 221, 909 S.W.2d at 633. Both cases were incorrectly decided. The Fifth and Sixth Amendments provide the right to a jury trial and verdict based on proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Sullivan v. Louisiana, 508 U.S. 275, 278, 113 S.Ct. 2078, 124 L.Ed.2d 182 (1993). Where error is found, harmless-error analysis may be applied by a reviewing court to affirm a criminal case if the sanctity of the jury verdict is preserved by determining beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury verdict was unaffected by the error. Id. at 279, 113 S.Ct. 2078. If the reviewing court uses any lesser standard, as is done in the present case, the jury verdict is breached by the court, and the court substitutes its judgment of the facts for that of the jury in concluding that in spite of the error, the State met its burden of proof. The required analysis set out in Sullivan assures that the defendant is convicted by a jury based on proof beyond a reasonable doubt. In the present case, the court affirms the decision because, despite the error, there was still substantial evidence to support the jury verdict. However, this fails to show that the jury was unaffected by the error. The court thus makes the factual decision of guilt. For a reviewing court “to hypothesize a guilty verdict that was never in fact rendered — no matter how inescapable the findings to support that verdict might be — would violate the jury-trial guarantee.” Sullivan, 508 U.S. at 279, 113 S.Ct. 2078. Application of harmless error has nothing to do with what objection was made. There is no preservation issue in this case. The issue of harmless error is first raised on appeal by the State, or even the reviewing court on its own motion, to affirm the conviction in spite of error. Harmless error in a criminal case by its nature raises a constitutional issue. The issue is whether by admission of evidence in error, a criminal defendant has been deprived of his or her right to a jury trial based on proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Harmless error is found in two forms. Under the common law, error unaccompanied by prejudice is harmless error that is not subject to reversal. Clawson v. Rye, 281 Ark. 8, 11, 661 S.W.2d 354, 356-57 (1983) (quoting McCoy Farms, Inc. v. J. & M. McKee, 263 Ark. 20, 27, 563 S.W.2d 409, 413 (1978)). Clearly, Kelley was prejudiced by the admission of the undefined Texas convictions for indecency with a child younger than seventeen. Under the common law, the case would be subject to reversal. However, in Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 23, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967), the United States Supreme Court declared that reversal in criminal cases is not required where it is shown that, beyond a reasonable doubt, the error did not affect the jury’s verdict. The majority’s approach in the present case fits neither pattern and fails to comply with requirements under the United States Constitution. Harmless-error review looks, we have said, to the basis on which the “jury actually rested its verdict.” Yates v. Evatt, 500 U.S. 391, 404, 111 S.Ct. 1884, 1893 [114 L.Ed.2d 432] (1991) (emphasis added). The inquiry, in other words, is not whether, in a trial that occurred without the error, a guilty verdict surely would have been rendered but whether the guilty verdict actually rendered in this trial was surely unattributable to the error. Sullivan, 508 U.S. at 279, 113 S.Ct. 2078 (emphasis in original). There is no showing beyond a reasonable doubt that the admission of the Texas convictions did not contribute to the verdict, and on that basis, harmless error is not available to the court in this case. Therefore, I dissent.