Barber v. State

2016 Ark. 54, 482 S.W.3d 314, 2016 Ark. LEXIS 49
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedFebruary 11, 2016
DocketCR-15-496
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 2016 Ark. 54 (Barber v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barber v. State, 2016 Ark. 54, 482 S.W.3d 314, 2016 Ark. LEXIS 49 (Ark. 2016).

Opinion

PER CURIAM

hThis is an , appeal from the denial of appellant Johnta Barber’s pro se petition for posteonviction relief filed pursuant to Rule 37.1 of. the Arkansas Rules of -Criminal Procedure. For the reasons set. forth below, the order of the circuit court is affirmed,

On January 8, 2009, Barber was convicted by a jury of aggravated robbery, kidnapping, possession of a firearm, discharging a firearm from 'a car, theft of property, aggravated assault, and fleeing. Barber was sentenced to an aggregate term of 684 months’ imprisonment. These convictions arose from Barber’s participation ‘ in a bank robbery along with two accomplices who, during the course of the robbery, forced three employees into the bank’s vault at gunpoint.

On March 3, 2010, the Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions, finding that they were supported by substantial evidence, and also finding that there was no speedy-trial violation. Barber v. State, 2010 Ark. App. 210, 374 S.W.3d 709. On April 21, 2010, 2Barber filed a timely, verified Rule 37.1 petition, and, on December 23, 2014, he filed an amended petition.

In his original Rule 37.1 petition, Barber raised ineffective-assistanee-of-counsel claims based on the following allegations of error: 1) counsel’s failure to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence on lesser-included offenses and failure to request jury instructions on lesser-included offenses; 2) counsel’s failure to move for and obtain a mistrial based on the allegation that the prosecutor had improperly coached the State’s witnesses; 3) counsel’s failure to challenge the introduction of prior-conviction evidence; and 4) counsel’s purposely delaying the trial and otherwise failing to protect Barber’s constitutional right to a speedy trial by requesting unnecessary continuances. In addition to the aforementioned ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims, Barber contended that the judgment of conviction is illegal on its face in-that it reflects that he was convicted of three Y felony kidnapping charges, even though the trial court had reduced the classification of each kidnapping charge to a B felony. Barber’s amended. petition raised one additional claim for relief, that his right to a speedy trial had been violated. Otherwise, the amended petition reasserted allegations made in the original petition.

On January ⅞0, 2015, the circuit court held a preliminary hearing where it considered whether the issues raised in both the original and amended petitions entitled Barber to an evidentiary hearing. The court ruled that .Barber had not raised sufficient facts to justify an eviden-tiary hearing. On-March 19, 2015, the circuit court issued a letter outlining its reasons for denying Barber’s claims for postconviction relief. On April 9, 2015, Barber filed a motion asking, among other things, that the circuit court rule on the ineffective-assistance-1 aof-counsel claims set forth in grounds two through four of his Rule 37 petition. Barber subsequently filed- a notice of appeal on April 17.2015, challenging the findings ■ encompassed in the circuit court’s letter. On April 28, 2015. after the notice of appeal had been filed, the circuit court filed its formal order denying relief and reiterating the findings set forth in its previous letter. 1 The circuit court found that Barber’s speedy-trial claim had already been addressed and rejected on direct appeal, that Barber had failed to present factual substantiation of his entitlement to lesser-included-offense instructions, that Barber had failed to substantiate his allegation pertaining to the prosecution’s abuse of subpoena power, and that Barber had failed to demonstrate that his kidnapping charge was incorrectly classified as a Y felony.

This court has held that it will reverse the circuit court’s decision granting or denying postconviction relief only when that decision is clearly erroneous. Conley v. State, 2014 Ark. 172, at 4, 433 S.W.3d 234, 239. A finding is clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it. the appellate court, after reviewing the entire record, is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. Sartin v. State, 2012 Ark. 155, at 3, 400 S.W.3d 694, 697.

For his first point on appeal. Barber claims that his constitutional right to a speedy trial was violated. Assertions of trial error, even those of constitutional dimension, must be braised at trial :and on-appeal, and are not cognizable under Rule 37.1. Watson v. State, 2012 Ark. 27, at 3, 2012 WL 234634 (per curiam). Here, the speedy trial argument was raised and rejected on direct appeal. Barber, 2010 Ark. App. 210, at 12-13, 374 S.W.3d at 718. The circuit court did not clearly err when it summarily dismissed this claim.

Barber’s second and third points raise multiple ineffective-assistance-of-counsel allegations. When considering an appeal from a circuit court’s denial -of a Rule 37.1 petition based on ineffective assistance of counsel, the sole question presented is whether, based on a totality of the evidence under the standard set forth by the United States Supreme Court in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), the trial court clearly erred in holding that counsel’s performance was not ineffective. Taylor v. State, 2013 Ark. 146, at 5, 427 S.W.3d 29, 32. Under Strickland, the effectiveness of counsel is assessed by a two-prong standard. First, Barber must show that counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the counsel guaranteed the petitioner by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Williams v. State, 369 Ark. 104, 108, 251 S.W.3d 290, 292-93 (2007). In order to demonstrate counsel error,, a petitioner must- show that his counsel’s performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness. Abernathy v. State, 2012 Ark. 59, at 4, 386 S.W.3d 477, 481 (per curiam). Furthermore, there is a strong presumption that trial counsel’s conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable, professional assistance, and a.petitioner has the burden of overcoming this presumption by identifying specific acts or omissions of trial counsel, which, when viewed from counsel’s perspective at the time of the trial, could not have been the result of reasonable professional judgment. Bryant v. State, 2013 Ark. 305, at 2, 429 S.W.3d 193, 196 (per curiam).

|fiThe second prong requires a petitioner to show that counsel’s deficient performance so prejudiced his defense that he was deprived of a fair 'trial. Holloway v. State, 2013 Ark. 140, at 5, 426 S.W.3d 462, 467. Consequently, Barber must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s errors, the fact-finder would have had a reasonable doubt respecting guilt, i.e., the decision reached would have been different absent the errors. Breeden v. State, 2014 Ark. 159, at 2, 432 S.W.3d 618; 622 (per cu-riam). A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome of the trial. Id. Concluso-ry allegations unsupported by facts and which provide no showing of prejudice are insufficient to warrant Rule 37 relief. Nelson v. State, 344 Ark. 407, 413, 39 S.W.3d 791, 795 (2001) (per curiam).

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Bluebook (online)
2016 Ark. 54, 482 S.W.3d 314, 2016 Ark. LEXIS 49, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barber-v-state-ark-2016.