Stout v. State

448 S.W.2d 636, 247 Ark. 948, 1970 Ark. LEXIS 1374
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 12, 1970
Docket5444
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 448 S.W.2d 636 (Stout 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
Stout v. State, 448 S.W.2d 636, 247 Ark. 948, 1970 Ark. LEXIS 1374 (Ark. 1970).

Opinion

J. Feed Jones, Justice.

The appellant, Bill Stout, was charged on information filed by the prosecuting attorney in the Crawford County Circuit Court with the crime of murder in the first degree in the shooting of Winfred Lee Jones on March 27, 1967. This is the third appeal to this court following as many trials. Stout’s first trial resulted in a verdict of guilty of manslaughter with a penitentiary sentence of two years. This court reversed, Stout v. State, 244 Ark. 676, 426 S. W. 2d 800. The second trial also resulted in a verdict of guilty of manslaughter with a sentence of five years. This court again reversed, Stout v. State, 246 Ark. 479, 438 S. W. 2d 698. At his third trial Stout was again found guilty of manslaughter and his punishment fixed at two years in the penitentiary. On this appeal he relies on the following points for reversal:

“The court erred in permitting the prosecuting attorney to withdraw his peremptory* challenge to two jurors after the jury panel had been exhausted and at a time when defendant had only one peremptory challenge available to him.
The court erred in overruling defendant’s motion for change of venue.”

The facts remain practically the same as detailed in the earlier decisions, supra. Stout and Jones had known each other and had been on friendly terms for some time prior to March 27, 1967. On that date Jones went to Stout’s home about 11:30 a.m. Jones had been drinking when he arrived at the Stout home and he and Stout consumed additional beer while they worked on a kitchen cabinet during the afternoon. When Stout left for work about 3:30 p.m., he requested Jones to also leave and Jones went to his automobile as if to leave but he returned to the Stout home after Stout left for work. Jones and Mrs. Stout purchased additional beer during the afternoon and Jones continued to drink beer in the Stout home in the presence of Mrs. Stout and her teenage daughters and a 20 year old male relative. Mrs. Stout also drank some of the beer. The evidence is in some conflict as to Jones’ conduct during the afternoon. Mrs. Stout testified that Jones forced her to accompany him on the trip for additional beer, but other evidence is to the effect that one of the daughters also went along.

In any event Stout learned by phone that Jones was still at his home, so about 6:30 p.m. during a work rest period, Stout returned home and demanded that Jones leave. The evidence is in some conflict as to exactly what was said and done, but about 7:30 p.m. Stout shot and killed Jones with a pistol. The sufficiency of the evidence is not questioned on this appeal so for that reason we do not set it out in detail.

The record is not perfectly clear as to the sequence of events in the selection of the jury leading up to appellant’s allegation of error under his first point. After four of the jurors had been excused for cause and eight jurors including Mrs. Rastall had been selected, the appellant had exercised seven peremptory challenges including that of juror W. F. Arnold, and the state had exercised none. At this point the record is as follows:

“MR. ROGERS: We haven’t had an opportunity to talk to the Joneses, but Mr: Arnold is related and they wanted to get him off.
THE COURT: You have a right to exercise challenges so long as it is done before he exhausts his challenges.
MR. SEXTON: I have just exhausted mine, Your Honor.
THE COURT: You have not. You have exercised six challenges. You have not exhausted your challenges.
MR. SEXTON: I thought the Defendant had six.
THE COURT: The Defendant has eight. The State has six.
MR. ROGERS: We excuse Mrs. Rastall and Mr. Arnold.
MR. SEXTON: We object and except to the Court forcing us to challenge before he exercises his ehallengé.
THE COURT: The Supreme Court has held that the Prosecuting Attorney may exercise a challenge on a juror previously accepted provided he exercises his challenge before the defendant has exhausted his challenges. The Court so holds.
MR. SEXTON: Note our exceptions.
(Back in the hearing of the Jury)
MR. SEXTON: Who did he challenge1?
THE COURT: Mrs. Rastall and Mr. Arnold.”

The parties continued the examination of the jurors on voir dire, and after one was dismissed for cause, three additional jurors were selected. The appellant exorcised one additional peremptory challenge and the state exercised three including Everett Young (who had sat as a juror in a criminal case where appellant’s attorney had represented the defendant -who was acquitted).

At this point the appellant moved for a mistrial or in the alternative for a continuance and stated his reasons as follows:

“The jury Commissioners of Crawford County duly and regularly elected or rather selected a list of alternates as jurors which list was delivered to the Clerk and that the jurors in attendance this morning have been summoned from the list and that the panel has been exhausted. We have been unable to obtain a jury, and that the Court has reviewed the list and that there are a number of persons on the list who are not in attendance upon the Court this morning, and that the Court as we understand it proposes to order the appearance of a number of those who are not in attendance but not all of those who are not in attendance; and that such procedure would deny to the defendant the right to have a jury of his choice from the panel selected by the Jury Commissi oners. ’ ’

The Court overruled the motion with the following explanation:

“Let the record show that at this time the State and the Defendant have selected ten jurors in the case, and that the Court is about to order the Sheriff to summon some of the jurors whose names appear upon the regular and special lists, that have been previously excused by the Court for various reasons, mostly because it would have been a great inconvenience for the jurors to attend at some previous Court Session during this term.”

Then the following colloquy occurred and the record is as follows:

“MR. SEXTON: And we wish to make it plain that we do not object to the Court’s calling additional jurors but our objections goes to the Court’s selecting the additional jurors that are to he called. We believe all jurors that have been excused ought to have been called because it is the defendant who has the right to select from the panel and not the Court.
THE COURT: The Court thinks it is unnecessary and impractical to summons all jurors who may not be here at the present time when only a few are needed.
MR.

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Related

Jones v. State
889 S.W.2d 706 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1994)
DuBois v. State
527 S.W.2d 595 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1975)
Glover v. State
455 S.W.2d 670 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
448 S.W.2d 636, 247 Ark. 948, 1970 Ark. LEXIS 1374, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stout-v-state-ark-1970.