Court Opinion

ID: 7821683
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-07 17:56:40.087178+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:30:45.254590
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, dissenting. Once again I must respectfully dissent from the majority opinion, and my reasons are essentially those set out in my dissent in Houff v. State, 268 Ark. 19, 593 S.W. 2d 39 (1980). I cannot understand why an accused who pleads guilty and is told by the court, as in the present case, that he will have to serve one third of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole should be held liable to serve one half of his sentence before becoming eligible. If an accused is not entitled to rely upon the word of the sentencing judge, then he should not be blamed for not relying upon the word of any other official. The Rules of Crim. Pro., Rule 24.4, requires that the court must inform a defendant of the minimum mandatory jail sentence and that additional punishment is authorized in the event the accused has a previous conviction. This was not done in the present case. Obviously, the court was not of the opinion the appellant would have to serve more than one third of his time or the appellant would have been so advised. It is logical to assume that the court would have reduced the term of the sentence had it realized the appellant would have to serve one half rather than one third of the sentence. In my opinion, this was a critical error in sentencing and is of such magnitude that it should be corrected upon application of the appellant. Therefore, I would send the case back for resentencing.