Court Opinion

ID: 9680302
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:28:37.035643+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:27.587770
License: Public Domain

Frank Holt, Justice, dissenting. In my view the doctrine of res judicata is applicable in the circumstances. I recognize that the refusal of a plea of res judicata, which is an affirmative defense, is said not to be a final and appealable order in our civil cases. However, in criminal cases we have recognized that the refusal of the plea of double jeopardy is a final and appealable order. Jones v. State, 230 Ark. 18, 320 S. W. 2d 645 (1959). The reasoning there applies with equal cogency to the plea of res judifata in criminal cases. Although I do not dispute the rationale of the dissents which focus on double jeopardy, I consider the plea of res judicata to be applicable and more appropriate here. In the case at bar the defendant was tried and acquitted on a two-pronged murder information: murder in perpetration of robbery, and premeditated murder. By this strategy the State theoretically insulates itself from any attack based upon the plea of res judicata. In other words, the allegation of robbery in this information can never be conclusively determined whether the defendant is adjudged guilty or acquitted. It must be said, however, that the information which accused the appellant of the crime of murder put in issue before a jury the contention that the appellant committed murder in the alleged act of robbery. The allegation of robbery could very well have been a vital and essential ingredient of a fact issue for the jury’s consideration. This was to the State’s advantage since sufficient proof on this issue would have relieved the State of the burden of proof of premeditation or the deliberate intention to kill. Rayburn v. State, 200 Ark. 914, 141 S. W. 2d 532 (1940). The issue of fact as to the commission of a robbery in the perpetration of the alleged crime of murder was certainly presented to the jury for its consideration. The State voluntarily elected to submit the issue of robbery for the jury’s consideration. This action could result in a benefit only to the State. Although permissible, it was not required. In view of the stipulation that the present charge of robbery, which was alleged in the murder information of which the appellant was acquitted, “arose out of the same set of facts, circumstances, and on the same occasion,” and that “the same testimony adduced by the State of Arkansas in the murder trial will necessarily need be reintroduced in this robbery charge,” I am of the view that the plea of res judicata must apply regardless of the ultimate inconclusiveness of the alleged issue of robbery. The plea of res judicata was applied in situations less compelling than in the case at bar. Harris v. State, 193 Ga. 109, 17 S. W. 2d 573 (1941), and State v. Greely, 30 N. J. Super. 180, 103 A. 2d 639 (1954). I respectfully dissent.