Bell v. State

644 S.W.2d 601, 6 Ark. App. 388, 1982 Ark. App. LEXIS 917
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedDecember 1, 1982
DocketCA CR 82-82
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 644 S.W.2d 601 (Bell v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bell v. State, 644 S.W.2d 601, 6 Ark. App. 388, 1982 Ark. App. LEXIS 917 (Ark. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinions

Lawson Cloninger, Judge.

Appellant, Rickey Gene Bell, was charged with aggravated robbery and kidnapping on November 24,1980. He was convicted by jury verdict and sentenced to thirty years imprisonment. He now brings this appeal.

In viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the appellee, as we must do on appeal, we find that on the morning of November 24,1980, the state’s principal witness, Donnie Payton, was working at Cross Roads Amoco Service Station in Independence County, Arkansas. Appellant, Rickey Gene Bell, drove into the service station and got one dollar’s worth of gas. He paid for the gasoline and left. Approximately twenty minutes later, he came back to the service station and asked Mr. Payton to fill up the gasoline tank. Mr. Payton thereupon went back into the service station and appellant followed him. Appellant put a gun to Mr. Payton’s head and told him to open the cash register. Appellant subsequently took between $150 and $200 out of the cash register. He then told Mr. Payton to get into the car and they left together. They rode around for approximately twenty to thirty minutes, at which time appellant let Mr. Payton out of the car on a country road.

Appellant’s first point for reversal is that the trial court erred in its ruling regarding the extent to which the state would be allowed to prove past convictions for the purpose of impeaching appellant’s credibilty on the witness stand. Before trial, appellant sought a preliminary ruling regarding the extent to which details of previous convictions would be admissible. The trial court allowed proof beyond the fact of felony conviction and appellant alleges that this was error. The trial court, however, limited the inquiry by the prosecution to whether or not appellant was convicted of a felony and what that felony was.

Ark. Stat. Ann. § 28-1001, Rule 601 (a) (Repl. 1977) reads in pertinent part:

For the purpose of attacking the credibility of a witness, evidence that he has been convicted of a crime shall be admitted, but only if the crime (1) was punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year under the law under which he was convicted, and the court determines that the probative value of admitting this evidence outweighs its prejudicial effect to a party or a witness, or (2) involves dishonesty for false statement regardless of the punishment.

Appellant specifically cites Jones v. State, 274 Ark. 379, 625 S.W.2d 471 (1981) for this point. In Jones, supra, appellant was charged with sexual abuse in the first degree. The defense counsel presented a pre-trial motion asking the court to rule that if Jones elected to testify the prosecution could not impeach his credibility by showing that Jones had pleaded nolo contendere to an earlier charge of rape. It was argued that the prejudicial effect of the earlier conviction would outweigh its probative value. The Arkansas Supreme Court agreed with appellant, holding that the prejudicial effect of the previous conviction clearly outweighed its value bearing on credibility. The court recognized that at the pre-trial hearing, it was admitted by defense counsel that Jones’s two previous convictions for burglary and theft would be admissible if he testified. Hence, the court held that a third conviction, for a similar sexual assault upon a little boy, would have been of scant probative value as compared to its significantly prejudicial effect on the jury.

In Smith v. State, 277 Ark. 64, 639 S.W.2d 348 (1982), appellant was tried and convicted of the offense of rape. On appeal, he contended that it was error for the trial court to deny the defendant’s motion in limine and allow into evidence prior convictions of the defendant. Appellant had previously been convicted of the offenses of burglary and rape, and the trial court ruled that the evidence was admissible to impeach the credibility of appellant. On appeal, the Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the trial court, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion, and “these matters must be decided on a case by case basis.” The court specifically recognized that although the evidence might not be admissible under Rule 404 (b), it could be admissible under Rule 609 for a purpose of attacking the credibility of a witness.

In Washington v. State, 6 Ark. App. 85, 638 S.W.2d 690 (1982), appellant was convicted of second degree murder, and his only point for reversal was that the trial court erred in failing to grant his motion in limine, which sought to prohibit the state from offering evidence of a previous murder conviction. Appellant indicated that he intended to testify in his own defense. The court recognized that where a defendant in a criminal case testifies in his own behalf, his credibility is placed in issue and the state may impeach his testimony by proof of a prior felony conviction. [See Gustafson v. State, 267 Ark. 278, 590 S.W.2d 853 (1979)]. The court also recognized that a trial court has a great deal of discretion in determining whether the probative value of the prior conviction outweighs its prejudicial effect, and the decision of the trial court should not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion. See also Cooley v. State, 4 Ark. App. 238, 629 S.W.2d 311 (1982). As set out in Washington, supra, some of the factors which should be considered by the trial court are:

1. Impeachment value of the prior crime.
2. The date of the conviction and the witness’s subsequent history.
3. The similarity between the prior conviction and the crime charged.
4. The importance of the defendant’s testimony.
5. The centrality of the credibility issue.

The Arkansas Court of Appeals held in Washington that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the prior felony conviction for purposes of impeaching appellant’s credibility. The court recognized that there was a direct conflict in the evidence. The testimony of the state’s witnesses, if accepted by the jury, would result in a murder conviction. The appellant’s testimony, if accepted by the jury, would have resulted in an acquittal. Therefore, the whole case turned on the resolution of the credibility factor between the state’s witness and the appellant.

In the instant case, if appellant had testified, his testimony would have been in direct conflict to the testimony of the state’s principal witness. Hence, we have the same situation as was present in Washington. Furthermore, appellant has failed to show that any unfair prejudice would result from the state introducing the prior felony conviction. It is unclear from the record, but, at one point, the trial court made the statement that the previous convictions dealt with a burglary conviction and a breaking and entering conviction. Hence, it is the opinion of this court that there was no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s decision to allow the state to impeach appellant’s credibility by naming the previous felony convictions.

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Bell v. State
644 S.W.2d 601 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
644 S.W.2d 601, 6 Ark. App. 388, 1982 Ark. App. LEXIS 917, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bell-v-state-arkctapp-1982.