Elser v. State
| Decision Date | 18 September 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 5284,5284 |
| Parties | Ronnie Lee ELSER, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Roy Mitchell, Hot Springs, for appellant.
Joe Purcell, Atty. Gen., Don Langston, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.
This is a petition for post-conviction relief under our Criminal Procedure Rule No. 1. 239 Ark. 850a. The trial court denied the petition.
In October, 1965, the appellant, Ronnie Lee Elser, and a codefendant, Victor Houk, were charged with having robbed two motels in Garland county. At the arraignment Elser declined the offer of the trial judge, P. E. Dobbs, to appoint counsel for him. Elser pleaded guilty to one charge and not guilty to the other. No evidence was introduced except written statements by the two defendants, both of whom said that Elser had nothing to do with the robbery of one of the motels, the Sands. The trial court nevertheless found Elser guilty upon both counts and imposed a sentence of imprisonment for fifteen years, with five years suspended on condition of good behavior.
Two months later Elser filed his present petition, in which he asserted his complete innocence of both offenses. He attributed his earlier plea of guilty to brutality on the part of the Little Rock police when he was first arrested and to his fear of similar mistreatment by the Hot Springs police if he insisted on his innocence. When the Rule 1 petition was filed Judge Dobbs appointed Earl Mazander, a member of the Garland county bar, to represent Elser. After a hearing, at which Elser and several police officers testified, the court entered an order finding that Elser had committed purjury and that the relief sought should be denied.
For reversal it is argued that in the original arrest and arraignment the appellant's constitutional rights were violated in several respects. We do not reach those issues, because, unfortunately, it is apparent from the record that Elser did not receive in the court below the impartial hearing to which he was entitled. It is evident that from the outset Judge Dobbs had a preconceived conviction that the assertions in the Rule 1 petition were false. Again and again he intervened in the presentation of the evidence, exhibiting such unmistakable bias and such a prejudiced demeanor as to render his findings of no value to this court. To make our point clear we think it sufficient to quote a few excerpts from the record.
The court: Now you've filed a petition in here because your rights have been violated by--under the Constitution. You're representing him. I appointed you to represent him?
Mr. Mazander: That's correct, your honor.
The Court: You know I'm getting tired of you guys coming in here to court and I've got to appoint somebody to represent you. All right, put on your evidence.
Circuit Clerk, Mr. Hilliard (to Elser): Will you raise your right hand and be sworn please, sir?
A. I did not rob the Holiday Inn.
The Court: You walked in there and knocked a poor old man in the head with a pistol and you don't admit it?
A. I did not.
A. We were identified.
A. I don't know as I'm a thug, your honor.
The Court: If you wasn't a thug why did you go down there and take a pistol and hit an old man over the head?
A. I denied that.
Mr. Whittington: Sir, we haven't made a liar out of him yet.
The Court: Huh?
Mr. Whittington: Give me about five minutes, sir.
* * *
* * *
Mr. Mazander: That's all the testimony, your honor.
The Court: I want him to stand up. At the time I gave you a sentence I gave you fifteen years, five suspended. Now since you came in here and lied like a dog against all the police officers and everybody I'm going--you know what-- I'm going to put that up five years, 'cause you in my opinion, you've just lied like nobody's...
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...all inferences and resolving all conflicts against petitioners. Graves v. State, (1974) 256 Ark. ---, 505 S.W.2d 748; Elser v. State, 243 Ark. 34, 418 S.W.2d 389. Pearlie Maye Dennison and Clinton Eugene Dennison, son of petitioners, were married February 7, 1970. Jessica Lynn, aged three a......
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...raised. Sheppard v. State, 239 Ark. 785, 394 S.W.2d 624, cert. den. 387 U.S. 923, 87 S.Ct. 2038, 18 L.Ed.2d 977. See also, Elser v. State, 243 Ark. 34, 418 S.W.2d 389. Viewed in the light most favorable to the court's holding, the record Appellant's leading counsel, a Missouri attorney, was......
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