Ward v. State, CR
| Citation | 321 Ark. 659,906 S.W.2d 685 |
| Decision Date | 02 October 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. CR,CR |
| Parties | Bruce Earl WARD, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. 93-823. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
William R. Simpson, Jr., Public Defender, for appellant.
Winston Bryant, Atty. Gen. by Olan W. Reeves, Senior Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Bruce Earl Ward was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. The conviction was affirmed on appeal as to Mr. Ward's guilt, but we remanded the case for resentencing. Ward v. State, 308 Ark. 415, 827 S.W.2d 110 (1992). A resentencing trial was conducted on February 9, 1993, and Mr. Ward was again sentenced to death. A notice of appeal was filed, and a record filed with this Court.
Counsel for Mr. Ward asserted there were numerous errors in the transcript of the resentencing hearing. We stayed the appeal and remanded the case to the Trial Court to settle the record. The Trial Court held hearings in an attempt to settle the record and entered a long list of corrections based on testimony, primarily by the attorneys involved, as to misidentified speakers as well as omissions which could be reconstructed. The Trial Court, could not, however, reconstruct the record with respect to a number of bench conferences which were not recorded stenographically. The reporter has destroyed the tape recording of the trial.
In his order responding to our order to settle the record, the Trial Court states, in part:
5. That, in spite of the best efforts of both the court and counsel for both parties, and because of Ms. Davis' [the court reporter] incompetence, significant errors and omissions remain in this record. Even though the court has been able to correct the errors and omissions listed in paragraph four, the errors and omissions which remain are such that the record has not been settled. These errors and omissions include, but are not limited to, the absence of transcripts of at least seven bench conferences during which discussions between counsel and the court took place.
* * * * * *
7. That the record of the trial in this matter has not been and cannot be settled.
In response to Mr. Ward's motion for reversal of the death sentence and for a new trial the State cites Bell v. State, 296 Ark. 458, 757 S.W.2d 937 (1988), in which we denied a new trial upon concluding that, despite omissions which apparently could not be cured, the record before us was sufficient. In that case, the matters missing, due to a courthouse fire, were recordings of...
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Ward v. State
...and remanded his sentence for a second time because a transcript of the record from the second sentencing was incomplete. Ward v. State , 321 Ark. 659, 906 S.W.2d 685 (1995) ( Ward II ) (per curiam). At his 1997 sentencing, Ward was sentenced to death for a third time. We affirmed his sente......
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Ward v. State
...remand, a jury again sentenced Ward to death, but we reversed based on an error made by the court reporter. Ward v. State, 321 Ark. 659, 906 S.W.2d 685 (1995) (per curiam) (Ward II ). Thereafter, a third jury sentenced Ward to death, and we affirmed his sentence. Ward v. State, 338 Ark. 619......
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Ward v. Norris
...and failed to record a number of bench conferences, however, the record on appeal could not be settled. Ward v. Arkansas, 321 Ark. 659, 906 S.W.2d 685 (1995) (per curiam). Accordingly, the case was remanded for a third sentencing Before the final sentencing trial, defense counsel moved to s......
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Ward v. State
...the sentence on appeal and remanded again for resentencing because the record could not be settled. See Ward v. State, 321 Ark. 659, 906 S.W.2d 685 (1995) (per curiam) (Ward II ). Ward was subsequently resentenced to death in 1997; he appealed, and we affirmed. See Ward III, 338 Ark. 619, 1......