Probation's revocation ruled invalid

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that a court official issued an invalid warrant to revoke the probation of a Jefferson County man and thus prompted a judge to wrongly order the man to jail for a year.

Allan Taylor Duncan was placed on probation after being convicted of third-degree battery and first-degree assault in 2006. On May 22, 2007, the state filed a petition to revoke Duncan's probation, and a deputy circuit court clerk issued a warrant. In October 2007, about four months after Duncan's probationary period had run out, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Berlin C. Jones revoked the probation and ordered Duncan to serve a year in the county jail.

The appeals court, in an opinion written by Judge Larry D. Vaught, said the record shows no evidence that a judge signed or approved the warrant. A warrant must be authorized by a judge to be valid under Arkansas law, which also requires the state toshow - not assume - the validity of warrants that are challenged.

The state argued that "we must assume that the judicial officer was involved - and reject Duncan's 'bare claim' that because the face of the warrant does not show the authorized delegation it somehow did not happen," the appeals court said.

But "the converse is also true - there is nothing in the record to show that a delegation did occur," Vaught wrote.

Since no evidence exists that a judicial officer approved the warrant, the court ruled, the revocation must be reversed.

"A warrant that is issued by a clerk without the judge's authorization is defective and invalid," Vaught wrote.

Since Duncan's probation was revoked after his probation had ended and "no extraordinary jurisdiction was established." the court ruled, Judge Jones didn't have the power to sentence Duncan to a one-year jail term.

Appeals Court Judges John Robbins and Wendell Griffen agreed with Vaught.

At the appeals court, the case is CACR08-141, Allan Taylor Duncan v. State of Arkansas.