Decay v. State

• Decision Date: 02 May 2013
• Docket Number: No. CR10-1309,CR10-1309
• Citation: 2013 Ark. 185
• Parties: GREGORY CHRISTOPHER DECAY APPELLANT v. STATE OF ARKANSAS APPELLEE
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

2013 Ark. 185

GREGORY CHRISTOPHER DECAY APPELLANT v. STATE OF ARKANSAS APPELLEE

No. CR10-1309

SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS

Opinion Delivered May 2, 2013

APPEAL FROM THE WASHINGTON

COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT,

[NO. CR07-999-1]

HONORABLE WILLIAM A. STOREY,

JUDGE

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice

Appellant Gregory Christopher Decay was convicted by a Washington County jury of two counts of capital murder and sentenced to death. This court affirmed in Decay v. State, 2009 Ark. 566, 352 S.W.3d 319. Decay subsequently filed a petition for postconviction relief pursuant to Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37.5. The circuit court denied the petition, and this appeal followed. Having reviewed the circuit court's order denying Decay's petition, we conclude that the circuit court failed to make specific written findings of fact and conclusions of law as required under Rule 37.5(i). Accordingly, we reverse and remand to the circuit court for entry of a written order in compliance with Rule 37.5(i) and this court's holding in Echols v. State, 344 Ark. 513, 42 S.W.3d 467 (2001).

Rule 37.5 sets out the postconviction procedures for death-penalty cases. Fudge v. State, 354 Ark. 148, 151, 120 S.W.3d 600, 601-02 (2003). Subsection (i) provides in part that the circuit court shall "make specific written findings of fact with respect to each factual issueraised by the petition and specific written conclusions of law with respect to each legal issue raised by the petition." In Echols, 344 Ark. at 519, 42 S.W.3d at 470, this court held that this provision imposes a "more exacting duty" on the circuit court than that found in Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37.3(c), which provides postconviction procedures for non-death-penalty cases. Under Rule 37.5(i), it is the petitioner who determines the issues that must be addressed by the circuit court in a written order, while Rule 37.3(c) provides that the circuit court is to determine the issues and then make specific written findings of fact and conclusions of law with respect to those issues. Id., 42 S.W.3d at 470.

Here, we must reverse and remand because the circuit court's order did not comply with Rule 37.5(i). On remand, however, the circuit court shall make factual findings and legal conclusions as to only those issues raised on appeal, as all other claims raised below but not argued on appeal are considered abandoned. Id., 42 S.W.3d at 471.¹ To avoid lengthy delay, we direct the circuit court to complete the order within sixty days from the date the mandate is issued.

Reversed and remanded.

William A. McLean, for appellant.

Dustin McDaniel, Att'y Gen., by: LeaAnn J. Adams and Laura Shue, Ass't Att'ys Gen., for appellee.

1. In his petition for postconviction relief, Decay raised twenty-one separate bases for ineffective assistance of counsel. On appeal, however, he focuses on four issues: (1) that...