CLARKSVILLE - A Johnson County Circuit Court jury Friday convicted a Johnson County sheriff’s deputy of perjury and began deliberating on her sentence.
The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for 90 minutes before returning the guilty verdict against Glenda Morrison, 45.
Prosecuting Attorney David Gibbons told jurors in the sentencing phase that he did not believe Morrison, a first-time offender, should be given prison time but should be punished by a fine or probation as a deterrent to others.
Special Judge John Cole of Sheridan, who presided over the trial, told jurors perjury carries a prison term of three to 10 years, a fine of $10,000 or both. He also said the jury could give an alternative term of probation plus up to 120 days in the county jail.
Morrison showed no emotion when the jury foreman read the verdict. But she dabbed tears from her eyes after the jury retired to begin deliberating her sentence.
Her attorney, David Dunagin of Fort Smith, told jurors during his closing argument in the penalty phase that he was disappointed with the verdict but understood that the jury was the conscience of the community.
He said the verdict constituted a major change in Morrison’s life. As a convicted felon, he said, she could no longer work as a law enforcement officer, vote or own a gun.
Morrison, who married Sheriff Jimmy Dorney on Oct. 20, 2012, was returned to active duty as a deputy after being suspended with pay after she was charged in February.
She was convicted of denying to Circuit Judge William Pearson that she made comments about Tommy Bowden to the jury that convicted him of first-degree murder Oct. 10, 2012, and that was gathering the morning of Oct. 11, 2012, to begin determining his sentence.
Taking the stand in her own defense Friday, Morrison said she did not recall making the comments attributed to her when she answered Pearson’s questions at a hearing Oct. 15, 2012.
She said she did not lie to Pearson but told him what she could recall at the time of the hearing.
Pearson had received information that Morrison told jurors the morning the sentencing phase of the trial was to begin that Bowden had acted up in jail the night before and that he was wearing a shock device on his leg so jurors would not have to worry about being in danger if he decided to testify. The witness stand is next to the jury box.
When Pearson told Morrison that he may have to question jurors from the trial, she told Pearson that she and fellow bailiff Deputy Jacob Shook were talking outside the jury room and that jurors may have overheard them.
In a Jan. 2 interview with Arkansas State Police investigator Rick Newton, Morrison admitted she made the comments to jurors inside the jury room.
In a recording of the interview played for jurors Friday, Newton asked Morrison repeatedly why she told Pearson that she and Shook were outside the jury room but told Newton the bailiffs were inside the room.
“I do not know why … scared to death,” she said. “I cannot answer that. I do not know. Scared to death, I guess, because I feel I did nothing wrong.”
She said the Bowden trial was a big case and her first as the lead bailiff. She said Friday that she felt intimidated when she went into the courtroom Oct. 15, 2012, before Pearson and attorneys.
She said she only remembered her remarks to the jury during the January interview because Newton “threw some bread crumbs” that helped Morrison remember the events of the day and recall her remarks to the jurors.
Gibbons said Morrison’s lies forced Pearson to call in jurors from the Bowden trial and question them about what remarks about Bowden they had heard and from whom.
Her remarks also forced Pearson to throw out the life sentence Bowden received and to hold another sentencing phase. Bowden again was sentenced to life in prison.
Gibbons told jurors the lies Morrison told were false-material statements because they prompted Pearson to call in and question jurors from the Bowden trial and to resentence Bowden.
“The people of Johnson County need to know when a person is sent down for life, they need to know it was done the right way,” Gibbons said.
He also told jurors that a law enforcement official lying under oath was important because “contempt for an oath is contempt for the law.”
Dunagin said in his closing argument that the state did not prove that Morrison had lied or that her remarks were false-material statements.
He pointed to Shook’s testimony and said that he lied to Pearson as well. Dunagin said Shook told Pearson during the Oct. 15, 2012, hearing that he didn’t hear or see Morrison talk to jurors and didn’t hear any remarks about Bowden acting up or wearing a shock device.
But he also said that Shook told Newton in his Jan. 2 interview that he and Morrison were in the jury room the morning the sentencing phase was to begin and that Morrison was walking through the room and telling the jurors about Bowden, including that he was wearing a shock device on his leg.
Dunagin said that because Shook lied, the jurors should disregard all of his testimony.
He also told jurors to disregard the testimony by the five Bowden jurors who testified during Morrison’s trial because their testimonies conflicted.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 12/21/2013