Perry v. State

Summary

The Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed Kiywuan Perry’s convictions for capital murder and aggravated robbery. The court held that Perry failed to preserve his sufficiency-of-the-evidence arguments because his directed-verdict motion was nonspecific, and it declined to consider his challenge to the refusal to submit a nonmodel accomplice-liability verdict form because the argument lacked supporting authority or cogent argument.

Holdings

1. A defendant waives a sufficiency challenge on appeal by failing to make a specific directed-verdict motion at the close of the State's evidence and at the close of all the evidence identifying the alleged deficiencies in the State's proof.
2. The court would not consider Perry's challenge to the refusal to submit an interrogatory verdict form because the argument was unsupported by convincing argument or relevant authority.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Perry's challenges to the sufficiency and credibility of the evidence were preserved for appellate review when his directed-verdict motion merely asserted that the State had presented insufficient evidence.
2. Whether the circuit court abused its discretion by refusing to submit Perry's proffered interrogatory verdict form asking the jury to determine whether witness Kenya Smith was an accomplice.

Disposition

affirmed