Norris v. State
| Decision Date | 12 September 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. CR77-45,CR77-45 |
| Citation | 555 S.W.2d 560,262 Ark. 188 |
| Parties | Bobby J. NORRIS, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Nabors Shaw and Robert L. Shaw, James D. Emerson, Mena, for appellant.
Bill Clinton, Atty. Gen. by Robert J. Govar, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.
The appellant's first conviction upon the present charge of delivery of marihuana was reversed on appeal. Norris v. State, 259 Ark. 755, 536 S.W.2d 298 (1976). The essential facts are stated in that opinion. Upon a retrial the appellant was again convicted and was sentenced to imprisonment for three years and to a fine of $1,000. We find no merit in either of his contentions for reversal.
First, it is argued that the jury panel should have been quashed because two of the jury commissioners who selected the wheel of jurors had served on a petit jury within the preceding two years and had in fact served on the petit jury which convicted the appellant at his first trial. The pertinent statutes provide: (a ) Jury commissioners shall possess the qualifications for petit jurors (Ark.Stat.Ann. § 39-201 [Supp. 1975]); (b ) a petit juror is ineligible to serve for two years after he is excused from further service (§ 39-103); (c ) except by consent of the parties a person cannot serve as a petit juror in a case if he was a petit juror in a former trial of the cause (§ 39-105); and (d ) no person shall be appointed as a jury commissioner who has served in that capacity within the preceding four years (§ 39-202). It is argued that the effect of the statutes is to disqualify the two jury commissioners in question.
The court was right in refusing to quash the jury panel. No possibility of prejudice is shown. In Polk County, with some 8,000 registered voters, the jury wheel should contain the names of at least 600 prospective petit jurors. § 39-205. There is no suggestion that either commissioner had any animosity toward the appellant. It would be patently impossible for two jury commissioners, out of a total of from three to twelve commissioners, to influence the selection of more than 600 names in such a way as to adversely affect the trial in a pending marihuana case. Moreover, we do not think the two commissioners were even technically disqualified to serve. The restrictions upon a petit juror's frequency of service go to his eligibility, not to his qualifications. The...
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Campbell v. State, 89-25
...102 L.Ed.2d 527 (1988). Moreover, the records of the Arkansas Secretary of State, of which we take judicial notice, Norris v. State, 262 Ark. 188, 555 S.W.2d 560 (1977), show that Clinton Daniels was commissioned to serve as County Judge of Newton County, Arkansas, for the period, January 1......