Swindle v. State

Summary

The Supreme Court of Arkansas considered an appeal from an attorney's contempt conviction and 24-hour confinement arising from his failure to request a jury trial at least 48 hours before trial. The court held that the appeal was moot as to the completed contempt sentence but addressed the jury-notice issue under the capable-of-repetition exception. It declared error in the circuit court's practice of requiring defendants to request a jury trial 48 hours before trial because the right is constitutionally guaranteed unless waived in the prescribed manner.

Holdings

1. The challenge to the propriety of the contempt order was moot because Swindle had completed his twenty-four-hour sentence.
2. A circuit court may not require a defendant to request a jury trial forty-eight hours before trial or assume that the jury-trial right has been waived because the defendant failed to make such a request.
3. The court could review the jury-trial notice issue because the issue was capable of repetition yet evaded review.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Swindle's appeal from the completed contempt sentence was moot.
2. Whether the circuit court could require a defendant to request a jury trial at least forty-eight hours before trial and treat failure to do so as a waiver or basis for contempt.
3. Whether the court should address the jury-trial notice issue under the capable-of-repetition-yet-evading-review exception to mootness.

Disposition

other