Warren Goodrum v. State of Arkansas

2025 Ark. 41

• Court: Supreme Court of Arkansas
• Decided: April 17, 2025
• Status: Published

Opinion

Cite as 2025 Ark. 41 SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS No. CR-24-240

Opinion Delivered: April 17, 2025

WARREN GOODRUM APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE PULASKI COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, V. SEVENTH DIVISION [NO. 60CR-18-3598] STATE OF ARKANSAS APPELLEE HONORABLE KAREN D. WHATLEY, JUDGE

AFFIRMED.

RHONDA K. WOOD, Associate Justice

Warren Goodrum received a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without

parole for his capital-murder conviction that he committed at age eighteen. On appeal, he

seeks to overrule our precedent and extend Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012). Miller

requires those who sentence offenders under the age of eighteen at the time of the offense

to consider the offenders’ unique and individual circumstances such as cognitive

development. Id. Because Goodrum did not raise this issue at trial, it is not preserved on

appeal and we affirm.

I. Facts

Goodrum confessed to the murder of Treyvon Gomillion. Amy McGinty,

Goodrum’s cousin, wanted to kill Gomillion because she believed Gomillion had

deliberately impregnated her during a consensual sexual encounter. After luring Gomillion

to a wooded area, Goodrum shot him, stabbed him seventeen times, slit his throat, and took the money from his wallet. Gomillion’s body was found partially unclothed, in boxer shorts

and a shirt, and covered by branches and debris. The jury found Goodrum guilty of capital

murder with a firearm and abuse of a corpse. After the guilt phase of the trial, Goodrum

agreed to be sentenced by the circuit court instead of by the jury. The State did not seek

the death penalty, so the mandatory sentence for the capital-murder charge was life

imprisonment without parole. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-10-101(c)(1)(A) (Supp. 2017). Also, the

circuit court sentenced him to a five-year enhancement for the use of a firearm to commit

capital murder (consecutive) and a ten-year sentence for abuse of a corpse (concurrent).

Goodrum appeals.

II. Argument

Goodrum raises one issue, and it is not preserved for our review. He argues that

because he was eighteen years old when he committed the offense, the mandatory sentence

of life imprisonment without parole violates the Eighth Amendment and Miller should

apply.1 This would require us to reverse and allow the sentencing court to hear testimony

and consider whether there is a more appropriate sentence, despite none existing under

current statutory law.

Yet we cannot address his argument. Goodrum did not raise this issue––that Miller

should apply to him as it does to juvenile offenders––at his trial. In fact, Goodrum did not

make any objection to the imposition of the mandatory life imprisonment without parole

1 We have previously declined to extend Miller to individuals who were eighteen years or older at the time of their offenses. See, e.g., Stokes v. Payne, 2024 Ark. 56, 686 S.W.3d 494; Gibbs v. Payne, 2023 Ark. 29, 660 S.W.3d 579; Benton v. Kelley, 2020 Ark. 237, 602 S.W.3d 96.

2 at sentencing. Rather, Goodrum’s attorney expressly agreed that “[Goodrum’s] sentence for

capital murder is life without the possibility of parole . . . .” The circuit court, then, entered

the sentence as stated on capital murder and sentenced him on the other charges.

It is our longstanding rule that we will not consider arguments, even constitutional

arguments, raised for the first time on appeal. See, e.g., Break v. State, 2022 Ark. 219, at 12,

655 S.W.3d 303, 311. Goodrum failed to raise this issue at sentencing and expressly

acknowledged he would receive a sentence of life imprisonment without parole on the

capital-murder charge. As the issue is not preserved, we do not address it and affirm.

Special Justice BILENDA HARRIS-RITTER joins.

BRONNI, J., not participating.

David Joseph Deutch, for appellant.

Tim Griffin, Att’y Gen., by: Jason Michael Johnson, Ass’t Att’y Gen., for appellee.