Dorsey v. State

393 S.W.3d 578, 2012 Ark. App. 183, 2012 WL 639523, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 291
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedFebruary 29, 2012
DocketNo. CA CR 09-345
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 393 S.W.3d 578 (Dorsey 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
Dorsey v. State, 393 S.W.3d 578, 2012 Ark. App. 183, 2012 WL 639523, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 291 (Ark. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

JOHN B. ROBBINS, Judge.

| ¶ This is the third time appellant Daniel Dorsey’s appeal from the revocation of his suspended imposition of sentence and resulting ten-year prison sentence has come before this court. In the first appeal, Dorsey v. State, 2010 Ark. App. 742, 2010 WL 4345681, appellant’s counsel filed a no-merit brief, but we held that the brief was not in compliance with Arkansas Supreme Court Rules 4-2 and 4-8. Accordingly, we ordered appellant’s counsel to file a substituted brief containing all adverse rulings and a substituted addendum containing all relevant pleadings and any additional documents necessary on appeal. Mr. Dorsey’s counsel subsequently filed a substituted brief, but we again ordered re-briefing because the brief was still not in compliance with Rule 4-3(k)(l) because it failed to contain and adequately discuss all adverse rulings. See Dorsey v. State, 2011 Ark. App. 368, 2011 WL 1896718. After we delivered our second opinion, Mr. Dorsey’s counsel failed to timely file a substituted brief as ordered, nor did he file a 12motion for extension of time to file the brief. Consequently, we issued a per cu-riam opinion, Dorsey v. State, 2011 Ark. App. 622, 2011 WL 4824322, wherein we removed appellant’s original counsel and appointed substituted counsel so the appeal was no longer stalled.

In the third appeal now before this court, Mr. Dorsey’s present counsel has submitted a merit brief. Mr. Dorsey argues on appeal that the trial court erred in denying his motion for directed verdict. Although couched in those terms, a review of both the record and appellant’s brief demonstrates that Mr. Dorsey is actually asking this court to reverse and dismiss the judgment arising from his revocation because the record fails to show that he entered a voluntary guilty plea to the charge for which he received a suspended imposition of sentence. We agree, and we reverse.

On July 7,1998, the trial court entered a judgment and commitment order reflecting a conviction for Class C felony possession of a controlled substance and a ten-year prison sentence. That judgment also showed that Mr. Dorsey entered negotiated guilty pleas to three Class D felonies: theft by receiving in case # 98-362, possession of a prohibited weapon in case # 98-363, and felon in possession of a firearm in case # 98-364. For each of the Class D felonies, Mr. Dorsey received a six-year suspended imposition of sentence. The judgment also reflects a negotiated guilty plea in case # 98-365 to possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, a Class Y felony, for which Mr. Dorsey received a ten-year suspended imposition of sentence. It is this conviction and subsequent revocation that is at issue in this appeal.

| sAfter the July 7, 1998, judgment was entered, Mr. Dorsey served some of his ten-year prison sentence for the Class C felony conviction, and then he was paroled. Mr. Dorsey was arrested for new crimes on June 17, 2002, his parole was revoked based on the conduct that led to his arrest, and he was reincarcerated. The conduct that led to his arrest likewise was the basis for a petition to revoke the three six-year suspended sentences for the Class D felonies to which he previously pleaded guilty. After appellant was again released from prison, a revocation hearing was held and the trial court revoked the three six-year suspended sentences, and sentenced him to three concurrent six-year prison terms. Mr. Dorsey appealed from those revocations, and we affirmed the revocations and sentences in an unpublished opinion, Dorsey v. State, CACR03-1209, 2004 WL 2239813 (Ark.App. Oct. 6, 2004). Since then, Mr. Dorsey was again released from prison.

On August 28, 2007, the State filed a petition to revoke the ten-year suspended imposition of sentence associated with the Class Y felony offense of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. The petition alleged multiple violations of Mr. Dorsey’s conditions, including selling cocaine on three occasions in March 2007. After a revocation hearing, the trial court found that Mr. Dorsey violated the conditions of his suspension by engaging in the sale of drugs. The trial court revoked Mr. Dorsey’s suspended sentence and entered a judgment and commitment order sentencing him to ten years in prison, which Mr. Dorsey now appeals.

At the revocation hearing, the State produced a video recording demonstrating that, on March 5, 2007, Mr. Dorsey exchanged cocaine for cash with an undercover officer. |4Mr. Dorsey testified on his own behalf and denied selling any drugs, indicating that the person captured on the video recording was his twin brother. Moreover, Mr. Dorsey maintained in his testimony that when he pleaded guilty in July 1998, he was only pleading guilty to the three Class D felonies, and that he did not plead guilty to Class Y felony possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. He stated that the Class Y felony charge was supposed to have been nolle prossed and that “I pled guilty to three charges to get one dismissed.”

Both prior to and at the close of the revocation hearing, Mr. Dorsey moved to dismiss the revocation petition on the basis that there was no record of him pleading guilty to Class Y felony possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver in case # 98-365. The trial court denied these motions to dismiss, and in this appeal Mr. Dorsey argues that this was error.

The exhibits before the trial court showed that, on July 7, 1998, Mr. Dorsey signed a written guilty-plea statement listing case # s 98-362, 98-363, and 98-364, wherein he pleaded guilty to those three Class D felonies. However, the guilty plea statement contained no reference to case # 98-365 and did not indicate that Mr. Dorsey pleaded guilty to Class Y felony possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. A plea and sentence recommendation was signed by the prosecutor and Mr. Dorsey on the same day. However, that document provided that Mr. Dorsey was pleading guilty only to the three Class D felonies, for which the prosecutor recommended six-year suspensions. The plea-and-sentence recommendation referenced case # s 98-362, 98-363, and 98-364 in the heading of |fithe document, and the provisions of the recommendation included a $450 public-defender fee and the handwritten notation, “Also includes payment for # 98-365.” Two ledger sheets were introduced,, and the first ledger sheet contained charges and balances against Mr. Dorsey that had accrued over the years and documented that the original revocation hearing date of November 19, 2007, had been continued until January 8, 2008. However, that ledger sheet only listed case # s 98-362, 98-363, and 98-364. The second ledger sheet was identical to the first except that it contained a list of events occurring after January 8, 2008, and on this ledger sheet case # 98-365 had been added.

On appeal, Mr. Dorsey contends that the record does not demonstrate that the trial court complied with Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure 24.4, 24.5, 24.6, or 24.7, or that he actually pleaded guilty in case # 98-365. These rules provide, in pertinent part:

Rule 24.2. Advice by court.
The court shall not accept a plea of guilty or nolo contendere from a defendant without first addressing the defendant personally, informing him of and determining that he understands:
(a) the nature of the charge;

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Bluebook (online)
393 S.W.3d 578, 2012 Ark. App. 183, 2012 WL 639523, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dorsey-v-state-arkctapp-2012.