Summary
The Supreme Court of Arkansas affirmed the denial of Scott Wayne Riddle’s petition for postconviction relief under Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37. Riddle claimed ineffective assistance of counsel based on alleged misinformation about his parole eligibility before entering a guilty plea. The court deferred to the circuit court’s credibility determination that counsel had correctly explained the seventy-percent service requirement and had referred instead to potential clemency or sentence commutation.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the circuit court clearly erred in finding that Riddle's counsel did not incorrectly advise him about parole eligibility.
- Whether Riddle established ineffective assistance of counsel affecting the voluntariness of his guilty plea.
Holdings
- The circuit court did not clearly err in crediting counsel's testimony that he explained Riddle would have to serve at least seventy percent of his sentence before parole eligibility and that the five-to-eight-year discussion concerned clemency or commutation rather than parole.
- Riddle failed to establish deficient performance because he did not prove that counsel gave him incorrect advice about parole eligibility; therefore, his ineffective-assistance claim failed without consideration of prejudice.
Key quotations
“We have held that there is no constitutional requirement for defense counsel to inform his or her client about parole eligibility, and the failure to impart such information does not fall outside the range of competence demanded of attorneys in criminal cases.” (at 3)
“Accordingly, we cannot conclude that the circuit court clearly erred in determining that Riddle did not receive incorrect advice regarding his eligibility for parole.” (at 6)
Factual background
Riddle pleaded guilty to one count of rape involving a thirteen-year-old girl and received twenty-five years in prison plus a fifteen-year suspended imposition of sentence. He alleged that counsel told him he would be eligible for parole in five years and would serve no more than eight years, while counsel testified that he explained the seventy-percent service requirement and discussed possible clemency or commutation in five to eight years. After hearing conflicting testimony from Riddle, his family, and counsel, the circuit court credited counsel's testimony and found that Riddle had been correctly advised about parole eligibility.
Procedural history
Riddle pleaded guilty to rape under a negotiated plea agreement and received twenty-five years' imprisonment plus a fifteen-year suspended imposition of sentence. He later petitioned for Rule 37 relief, alleging ineffective assistance because counsel incorrectly advised him about parole eligibility. After an evidentiary hearing, the Sebastian County Circuit Court found counsel's testimony more credible and denied relief. The Supreme Court of Arkansas affirmed.