Alijah Wilder v. State of Arkansas

2021 Ark. App. 131

• Court: Court of Appeals of Arkansas
• Decided: March 17, 2021
• Status: Published

Opinion

Cite as 2021 Ark. App. 131

Elizabeth Perry ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS I attest to the accuracy and DIVISION IV No. CR-20-434 integrity of this document 2023.06.23 10:27:17 -05'00' Opinion Delivered March 17, 2021 2023.001.20174 APPEAL FROM THE CRAIGHEAD ALIJAH WILDER COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, APPELLANT WESTERN DISTRICT [NOS. 16JCR-16-702; 16JCR-16-853; V. 16JCR-16-859; 16JCR17-1265; AND 16JCR-19-183] STATE OF ARKANSAS APPELLEE HONORABLE PAMELA HONEYCUTT, JUDGE

AFFIRMED

PHILLIP T. WHITEAKER, Judge

Alijah Wilder appeals a Craighead County Circuit Court order sentencing her to a

combined total of thirty years’ imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Correction

after a revocation proceeding. On appeal, Wilder argues that the trial court improperly relied

on grounds not listed in the State’s petition to revoke in making its revocation decision.

Because Wilder failed to properly raise these arguments below, we affirm.

In January 2019, Wilder pled guilty to theft of property, financial-identity fraud, and

two counts of second-degree forgery. She received seventy-two months’ probation on the

hot-check and forgery charges and a seventy-two-month suspended imposition of sentence

on the others. She was also ordered to pay restitution as well as certain costs and supervision

fees at a rate of one hundred dollars a month. In August 2019, Wilder pled guilty to another count of financial-identity fraud. On that charge, she was sentenced to seventy-two months’

probation and was ordered to pay restitution as well as costs and fees at a rate of seventy-

five dollars a month.

In October 2019, police executed a search warrant on Wilder’s home. The

subsequent search yielded approximately 15.5 ounces of ecstasy, 128 ounces of

promethazine with codeine, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia. In November 2019, the

State filed a petition to revoke, alleging the following violations of her probation and

suspended sentences: (1) she had committed the crime of trafficking a controlled substance;

(2) she had been found to be in possession of ecstasy and promethazine-codeine; (3) she had

failed to report as directed; and (4) she had a total balance of $10,805.96 due to the

Craighead County Sheriff’s Office for restitution, fines, and court costs.

The court conducted a revocation hearing on the petition to revoke and received

evidence. Avion Henry, Wilder’s probation officer, testified that Wilder owed $110 in

supervision fees, with her last known payment being made in February 2020. Henry also

reported that Wilder had missed two appointments when she was arrested on new charges

and that she had failed to report within twenty-four hours of her release as required by the

conditions of her probation and suspended sentences. Becky Mahan, the fine and fee

collector for the Craighead County Sheriff’s Office, testified that Wilder had made only two

payments totaling seventy dollars on the fines and fees imposed on the hot-check conviction

2 and that no payments had been made on the other charges, leaving an outstanding balance

of $10,855.96. 1

Detective Bill Brown testified to the facts surrounding the search of Wilder’s home

and the discovery of controlled substances inside. He reported that police responded to a

gunshot victim found outside Wilder’s home. After the victim had been treated by

emergency personnel, the officers performed a protective sweep of the home to locate other

possible victims or suspects. Wilder was not present during the sweep but arrived later while

officers were still on scene. She confirmed that the home was hers, her name was on the

lease, and the gunshot victim was her boyfriend, Darrius Furlow. She also confirmed that

other people besides her and Furlow lived at the residence. Law enforcement obtained a

search warrant for the home, and they found approximately 15.5 ounces of ecstasy, 128

ounces of promethazine with codeine, some marijuana, and drug paraphernalia. When

questioned by police, Wilder admitted that she knew the drugs were in the home. Law

enforcement sent the contraband to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory for analysis.

Charlette Parnell, a forensic chemist, randomly tested the over 3,000 pills seized during the

execution of the warrant and reported that all the pills sampled contained ecstasy.

At the close of the evidence, Wilder moved for directed verdict arguing that the

State had failed to sufficiently connect her to the controlled substances found in the home

and asserting that she had recently paid a substantial portion of her financial obligations. The

court denied the motion, found Wilder had willfully violated the terms of her prior

1 This amount includes an additional $130 in accumulated sheriff fees.

3 sentences, and sentenced her to a combined thirty years in the Arkansas Department of

Correction. 2 Other than the arguments made in the directed-verdict motions, no other

challenges were made to the court’s ruling.

Wilder now appeals her revocation, claiming that the trial court erred in revoking

her probation on violations not contained in the petition to revoke, resulting in a violation

of her due-process rights. She contends that the petition to revoke alleged that she had

committed the crimes of trafficking a control substance and possession of a controlled

substance; however, the court did not find that she committed those crimes. Instead, the

court simply found that she lived at the residence and knew the drugs were present in the

residence. Additionally, she asserts that the State did not allege in the petition that she had

willfully refused to pay her financial obligations; instead, it alleged that she carried a balance

on her account with the Craighead County Sheriff’s Office—something not prohibited by

the terms and conditions of her probation or suspended sentences.

These arguments, however, are not preserved for our review. While it is true that

Wilder’s right to due process required that she be given notice of the conditions of the

suspended sentences she was alleged to have violated, it is also true that the denial of any

right, even a constitutional one, must be objected to at trial to be preserved for appeal.

Cheshire v. State, 80 Ark. App. 327, 95 S.W.3d 820 (2003). Here, she did not raise any due-

2 The court did not specify at the hearing how the total sentence should be distributed among the various convictions. The sentencing orders signed by the court specified consecutive five-year sentences on all charges. The sentencing order also specified an additional five-year suspended imposition of sentence on all charges except the hot-check violation, which contained a one-year suspended imposition of sentence.

4 process objection when the trial court ruled in open court that she had violated the

conditions of her probation and suspended sentences. When the State introduced evidence

that she had failed to make payments on her financial obligations as ordered, she did not

object or ask for additional time to respond. See Josenberger v. State, 2010 Ark. App. 243

(affirming revocation on allegation not included in petition to revoke where appellant failed

to object to the introduction of evidence on the unnamed allegation or the trial court’s

revocation on the unalleged violation). Because Wilder failed to object, we affirm the trial

court’s decision to revoke on the ground that Wilder violated the terms of her probation

and suspended sentences by willful nonpayment of her financial obligations. We need not

discuss the trial court’s findings on the other alleged transgression because the violation of

one condition is sufficient to support revocation. Josenberger, supra.

Affirmed.

VIRDEN and GLADWIN, JJ., agree.

Terry Goodwin Jones, for appellant.

Leslie Rutledge, Att’y Gen., by: Adam Jackson, Ass’t Att’y Gen., for appellee.