Court Opinion

ID: 9771235
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 16:37:28.453383+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:27.251829
License: Public Domain

Tom Glaze, Justice, concurring. I concur to update the history of our review of capital cases contained in Robertson v. State, 298 Ark. 131, 765 S.W.2d 936 (1989) (Hickman and Glaze, JJ., concurring), Fretwell v. State, 289 Ark. 91, 708 S.W.2d 630 (1986) (Hickman, J., concurring), and Ruiz and Denton v. State, 280 Ark. 190, 655 S.W.2d 441 (1983) (Hickman, J., concurring). Since Robertson, we have upheld the imposition of the death sentence in the following cases: Ruiz and Denton v. State, 299 Ark. 144, 772 S.W.2d 297 (1989) (affirmance of imposition of death sentence after resentencing proceeding). (After escaping from an Oklahoma prison, Ruiz and Denton kidnapped, robbed and shot to death the Magazine, Arkansas, town marshall and a Corps of Engineers employee.); Parker v. State, 300 Ark. 360, 779 S.W.2d 156 (1989), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 883 (1990) (affirmance on retrial after case reversed and remanded by this court on capital murder conviction in Parker v. State, 292 Ark. 421, 731 S.W.2d 756 (1987); petition for post-conviction relief denied, Parker v. State, CR88-95 (February 18, 1991). (Parker shot to death his former wife’s parents.); Pickens v. State, 301 Ark. 244, 783 S.W.2d 341 (1990), cert. denied, 497 U.S. 1011 (1990) (affirmance of imposition of death penalty after second resentencing proceeding); petition for post-conviction relief denied, Pickens v. State, CR 89-94 (December 17, 1990), cert. denied, 497 U.S. 1011 (1991) (Pickens shot and killed a customer in a convenience store robbery); Wainwright v. State, 302 Ark. 371, 790 S.W.2d 420 (1990), cert. denied, 499 U.S. 913 (1991); petition for post-conviction relief denied, Wainwright v. State, CR 89-79 (January 13, 1992). (Wainwright shot to death a convenience store clerk in an robbery.); Coulter v. State, 304 Ark. 527, 804 S.W.2d 348 (1991), cert. denied, _U.S__, 112 S.Ct. 102 (1991). (Coulter raped and murdered a five year old child.); Johnson v. State, 308 Ark. 7, 823 S.W.2d 800 (1992). (Johnson bludgeoned to death a night watchman); and Henderson v. State, 311 Ark. 398, 844 S.W.2d 360 (1993). (Henderson murdered the owner of a furniture store during a robbery.) Petitions for post-conviction relief were also denied in Whitmore v. State, 299 Ark. 55, 771 S.W.2d 266 (1989). (Whitmore robbed and stabbed to death an elderly woman at her home.); and Starr v. State, CR 87-20 (November 12, 1989), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1100, 110 S.Ct. 1327 (1990). (Starr sexually assaulted and bludgeoned to death a woman at her home.) We granted post-conviction relief in part in O’Rourke v. State, 298 Ark. 144, 765 S.W.2d 916 (1989). We stayed the appeal of an order in O’Rourke and remanded for consideration by the trial court of whether O’Rourke was competent to abandon his post-conviction appeal. O’Rourke v. State, 300 Ark. 323, 778 S.W.2d 938 (1989). We subsequently granted the State’s motion to dismiss the post-conviction appeal. O’Rourke v. State, CR 89-145 (January 14,1991). This court then denied a motion filed by O’Rourke to reinstate the appeal of the order denying post-conviction relief. O’Rourke v. State, CR 89-145 (February 24, 1992). (O’Rourke murdered his mother and father.) The judgment and death sentence were reversed and remanded in Clements v. State, 303 Ark. 319, 796 S.W.2d 839 (1990). On retrial, the defendant was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. We affirmed the judgment of conviction but reversed the death sentence and remanded the case for resentencing in Sanders v. State, 308 Ark. 178, 824 S.W.2d 353 (1992). The death penalty was again imposed and is on appeal to this court. (Sanders robbed and shot to death a Hot Spring County couple.) We reversed and remanded the case for retrial in Duncan v. State, 309 Ark. 218, 831 S.W.2d 115 (1992), and in Mauppin v. State, 309 Ark. 235, 831 S.W. 104 (1992). On retrial, Mauppin was again convicted of capital murder but sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. In Ward v. State, 308 Ark. 415, 827 S.W.2d 110 (1992), we affirmed in part and reversed in part and remanded the case for resentencing. Ward was. again sentenced to death and the sentence is on appeal to this court. (Ward murdered a convenience store clerk.) We reversed and remanded Brenk v. State, 311 Ark. 579, 847 S.W.2d 1 (1993). We also reversed and remanded the case of Johnnie Michael Cox v. State to the trial court for appointment of counsel and post-conviction proceedings. Cox v. State, 305 Ark. 488, 807 S.W.2d 665 (1991). The judgment and death sentence in Cox were ultimately affirmed by this court. Cox v. State, 313 Ark. 184, 853 S.W.2d 266 (1993). (Cox’s three victims died from a combination of injuries received when he stabbed and strangled them and then set afire the apartment they were in.) We affirmed the judgment and sentence in Sheridan v. State, 313 Ark. 23, 852 S.W.2d 772 (1993). (Sheridan stabbed to death a pregnant woman.) The death sentence has been executed in four cases since Robertson: Ronald Gene Simmons v. State, John Edward Swindler v. State, Rickey Ray Rector v. State, and Steven Douglas Hill v. State. (Simmons shot and killed several persons in a shooting spree. This court upheld his right to waive a direct appeal of his conviction and death sentence. Franz v. State, 296 Ark. 181, 754 S.W.2d 839 (1988); Swindler killed a Ft. Smith police officer; Rector killed a Conway police officer; and Hill, who had escaped from the Arkansas Department of Correction, shot and killed an Arkansas State trooper who was attempting to arrest him.) It was noted in the concurring opinion to Robertson in 1989 that several cases appeared to have disappeared into the federal judicial machinery. Now, four years after Robertson, it is notable that two of the cases mentioned remain in the exact same posture. The cases of Eddie Lee Miller, affirmed by this court in 1981, and Clay Anthony Ford, affirmed in 1982, remain in the United States District Court on pending petitions for writs of habeas corpus. The habeas corpus petitions in the two cases have languished in the district court for nearly twelve years in the Miller case and more than ten years in the Ford case. In the case of Darrell Wayne Hill, affirmed by this court in 1982, the district court granted the petition for writ of habeas corpus after it languished for approximately ten years. The matter is now on appeal by the state to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. (Miller murdered a storekeeper in a robbery; Ford, an escapee from the Tennessee Department of Correction, shot and killed an Arkansas State Police trooper; Hill kidnapped, robbed, and shot two men in a robbery of a service station, one of the men died.)