Court Opinion

ID: 9648590
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:28:35.271213+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:03.452932
License: Public Domain

Sam Robinson, Associate Justice (dissenting). Of course we all make errors, and in my humble opinion the majority is making a most serious error in reversing this case. Those committing crimes through the commission of unnatural sex acts are perhaps the most dangerous of criminals. It frequently happens that such persons commit the more serious crime of murder to avoid disclosure of their sexual proclivities. One can hardly read the daily papers on any day without seeing the account of a murder committed in connection with a sex crime. Such cases have been before this court several times. Smith v. State, 205 Ark. 1075, 172 S. W. 2d 248; Leggett v. State, 227 Ark. 393, 299 S. W. 2d 59. But frequently the killer is never apprehended. He has evaded detection by killing the victim of his lust—the only witness who could identify him. The majority concedes that evidence of other unnatural sex offenses committed by the defendant is admissible in a case of this kind, but the majority then proceeds to reverse the judgment because the State introduced evidence of what could be considered an unnatural sexual act committed by the defendant. If the defendant put his arms around the little boy and “hugged him up” in an improper manner, this would be an unnatural sexual act, and according to the rule of evidence recognized as valid by the majority, evidence of such act could be properly introduced. On the other hand, if the placing of his arms around the child was merely a friendly gesture, certainly evidence of such act would in no way be prejudicial to the defendant. It would be just like proving that he shook hands with the little boy. In these circumstances the trial court thought the evidence was admissible for what it was worth. If the defendant’s act was improper, it was admissible. If, on the other hand, it was not improper, there could be no prejudice to him. Whether the defendant’s conduct indicated depraved sexual desires or merely a friendly gesture was to be argued by the lawyers in the case, but in any event, the evidence was admissible to show the jury what happened. For the reasons set out herein, I respectfully dissent.