Justin Thornton v. State of Arkansas

Summary

The Supreme Court of Arkansas affirmed Justin Thornton’s convictions for kidnapping, aggravated residential burglary, domestic battering, aggravated assault, terroristic threatening, and fleeing. The court held that Thornton’s sufficiency-of-the-evidence challenge was not preserved because his dismissal motion did not identify specific deficiencies in the State’s proof. The court also declined to consider his challenge to defense counsel’s Class Y felony certification because the issue was not preserved and the record did not establish that counsel lacked the certification.

Holdings

1. A defendant in a nonjury criminal trial must make a specific motion for dismissal at the close of the State's case and renew it at the close of all evidence, identifying the precise deficiency in the proof. A motion that merely recites the elements or asserts that the State failed to make a prima facie case does not preserve particular sufficiency arguments for appellate review.
2. The mere possibility that appointed defense counsel lacked Class Y felony certification from the Arkansas Public Defender Commission does not constitute structural error under the third Wicks exception to the contemporaneous-objection rule.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Thornton preserved a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence by making specific motions to dismiss at the required points in the bench trial.
2. Whether the circuit court committed structural error, or otherwise violated Thornton's right to counsel, by allowing defense counsel to represent him despite an unresolved question regarding counsel's Class Y felony certification by the Arkansas Public Defender Commission.

Disposition

affirmed