Fields v. State

2019 Ark. App. 162, 574 S.W.3d 201
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 13, 2019
DocketNo. CR-17-985
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2019 Ark. App. 162 (Fields 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
Fields v. State, 2019 Ark. App. 162, 574 S.W.3d 201 (Ark. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

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RAYMOND R. ABRAMSON, Judge *205Robert Jamar Fields was convicted by a Union County Circuit Court jury of one count of aggravated robbery, three counts of aggravated assault with two child enhancements, one count of terroristic act, and one count of first-degree battery with a child enhancement. He was sentenced to consecutive sentences totaling fifty-four years' imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Correction.

On appeal, Fields argues the following five points: (1) the circuit court clearly erred in denying his motion in limine to exclude the pretrial identification of him made by the victim, Jennifer New; (2) the circuit court's denial of his Batson challenge was against the preponderance of the evidence; (3) the circuit court failed to control the prosecutor's closing argument during sentencing, "allowing him to misstate the law regarding parole eligibility to the jury"; (4) the circuit court failed to exercise discretion in sentencing him to consecutive terms of imprisonment; and (5) the circuit court abused its discretion in denying his petition for writ of error coram nobis. We affirm.

On July 25, 2017, one day before trial, Fields filed a motion in limine to exclude victim Jennifer New's pretrial photo identification of him as the person who had shot her. Before trial, the circuit court conducted a brief hearing on the motion. The circuit court denied the motion, ruling that the proffered evidence was hearsay and that the objections went to New's credibility. Fields argues that the circuit court clearly erred in denying his motion in limine, but his argument is not preserved for appeal. Issues raised for the first time on appeal, even constitutional ones, will not be considered because the circuit court never had an opportunity to rule on them. E.g. , London v. State , 354 Ark. 313, 320, 125 S.W.3d 813, 817 (2003).

New's identification of Fields from the photo she saw on the internet and subsequently verified for police is not preserved for appellate review because Fields did not object to New's in-court identification of him based on the alleged taint from the photo identification. See, e.g. , Jackson v. State , 318 Ark. 39, 41, 883 S.W.2d 466, 468 (1994) ; Goins v. State , 318 Ark. 689, 699-700, 890 S.W.2d 602, 607 (1995).

Fields's motion in limine did not ask for exclusion of any prospective in-court identification. At trial, New first identified Fields in the courtroom based on having seen him during commission of the crimes, without mentioning the online mug shot or the two photos shown to her by police when she contacted them after having seen his photo online. New testified at a later point in trial about seeing Fields's photo on the internet and also identifying it from photos shown to her by police. Fields's only objection to the in-court identification was that the prosecutor "need[ed] to lay more groundwork"-he did not relate his objection to any of the grounds from his motion in limine or allege that her in-court identification was tainted by her prior photo identification.1 Thus, because Fields's *206suppression argument was not preserved by an objection alleging that the in-court identification was tainted by the previous photo identification, the argument is not preserved for our review.

Fields's second point on appeal is that the circuit court clearly erred by rejecting his Batson challenge after two African-American women were struck from the jury by the prosecutor. See Batson v. Kentucky , 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). The prosecutor noted that more than one African-American was already on the jury and then gave a race-neutral explanation for the strike. Fields did not present any further evidence or argument to support his position, and the Batson challenge was denied.

In MacKintrush v. State , 334 Ark. 390, 398-99, 978 S.W.2d 293, 296-97 (1998), the Arkansas Supreme Court set forth the three-step process to be followed in challenges under Batson . First, the strike's opponent must present facts to raise an inference of purposeful discrimination; second, if the inference is established, the proponent of the strike must present a race-neutral explanation for the strike; and third, if a race-neutral explanation is given, the circuit court must decide whether the strike's opponent has proved purposeful discrimination. MacKintrush , 334 Ark. at 398-99, 978 S.W.2d at 296-97. In the third step, the strike's opponent must persuade the circuit court that the expressed motive of the striking party is not genuine but rather is the product of discriminatory intent. Id. at 399, 978 S.W.2d at 296. The burden of persuasion establishing purposeful discrimination never leaves the opponent of the strike. Id. at 398, 978 S.W.2d at 296. "[F]ollowing step two, it is incumbent upon the strike's opponent to present additional evidence or argument, if the matter is to proceed further."

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2019 Ark. App. 162, 574 S.W.3d 201, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fields-v-state-arkctapp-2019.