Court Opinion

ID: 9773117
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:37:53.5196+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:50.244100
License: Public Domain

John F. Stroud, Justice, concurring. I disagree with the court’s interpretation of Article VIII of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure as those rules pertain to a defendant awaiting trial while incarcerated in the Arkansas Department of Correction (more commonly called the state penitentiary) for another offense. In Wade v. State, 264 Ark. 320, 571 S.W. 2d 231 (1978), the rules were interpreted to mean that a defendant incarcerated in the state penitentiary would receive a speedy trial if he is tried before the end of the third full term of court. To reach this result the court cited Rule 30.1(b), also cited in the majority opinion, and held that the provisions of Rule 28.1(a) applied to a defendant held in jail pending trial, but not to a defendant in the state penitentiary. The relevant portion of the latter rule provides: Any defendant charged with an offense in circuit court and committed to a jail or prison in this state shall be brought to trial before the end of the second full term of the court, but not to exceed nine (9) months . . . (Emphasis added.) Although neither term is defined by the Rules of Criminal Procedure, jail is defined in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1961) as a building for the confinement of persons held in lawful custody as for minor offenses, and prison is defined as an institution for the imprisonment of persons convicted of major crimes or felonies. In 1875 when the legislature adopted Ark. Stat. Ann. §§ 46-701 — 46-706 (Repl. 1977) authorizing the construction of detention facilities by a city council, such facilities were referred to as a city prison. The statute also refers to the attendant facility as “watch houses,” but both terms are archaic and have fallen into disuse. More contemporary language is contained in Ark. Stat. Ann. §§ 46-1201 — 46-1209 (Repl. 1977) adopted in 1973 setting standards for criminal detention facilities which refers to “the State Penitentiary, county jails, municipal jails, and temporary holding units.” I think clearly “jail” means the county or municipal jail and “prison” means the state penitentiary. The Wade case, now reaffirmed by this case, has construed “jail or prison” as used in Rule 28.1(a) to mean only the county or municipal jail, so that the 9 month limitation does not apply to a defendant already in the state penitentiary. This application of the speedy trial rules causes the defendant in the state penitentiary to be governed by the rule applicable to persons free on bail (trial before the end of the third full term of court), rather than by the rule applicable to persons incarcerated in a county or municipal jail (trial before the end of the second full term of court, but not to exceed 9 months). This construction is blatantly unfair for the reason pointed out by Justice Conley Byrd in his dissent to the Wade case. A prisoner in the state penitentiary is deprived of the right to earn “good time” for good behavior due to a hold order placed on him while he awaits trial for another offense. I concur in the result of the majority opinion rather than dissent from it, because I believe this arbitrary rule should be changed by formal amendment to the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure with a subsequent effective date, rather than by overruling the Wade case and applying the decision retroactively.