A federal judge on Tuesday scheduled a June 10 hearing on a prosecutor’s request to modify the probationary conditions for former state Rep. Hudson Hallum, who was sentenced last year to probation and home detention for taking part in a vote-buying scheme.
A petition filed Monday notes that Hallum, who resigned from his District 54 seat in 2012 after pleading guilty to election-fraud charges, has tested positive for amphetamine, opiate and morphine use since beginning his three years of probation last summer.
Although he had a diet-pill prescription that contained amphetamine, he was asked in December and again in February to stop taking the drug and to find an alternative, “due to his history of prescription drug addiction,” the petition states.
In March, when he submitted a urine sample that tested positive for hydrocodone and hydromorphone, he admitted he had continued using the amphetamine “due to his addiction to the drug for approximately eight years,” the petition said.
The petition contends that as the owner and an employee of an ambulance service - Crittenden County Emergency Medical Services - Hallum poses a danger to the community while under the influence of the prohibited drugs and driving the ambulance or performing medical services.
Hallum was sentenced to three years of probation, including nine months of home detention, for taking part in a scheme in 2011 to buy votes with cheap alcohol, chicken dinners and cash.
He and his father, Kent Hallum, who was convicted alongside him, also were fined and ordered to perform100 hours of community service work. Also convicted in the case were Phillip Wayne Carter, a then-West Memphis councilman and Crittenden County juvenile-probation officer, and Sam Malone, then a police officer who served on the Crittenden County Quorum Court and the Crittenden County School Board.
The four admitted in federal court that they engaged in a scheme involving absentee ballots to ensure that Hudson Hallum won three special elections in 2011 - a Democratic primary, a runoff and the general election.
Prosecutors said absentee-ballot applications were given to absentee voters, who were then “assisted” in completing them. Unsealed envelopes containing the votes were then delivered to the Hallums for inspection, and, assessing for whom the votes were cast, they in turn either forwarded them to the clerk’s office or destroyed them.
Prosecutors said some voters “held on to” their votes to obtain money for food, prompting a discussion between the Hallums about how much they should pay for an individual vote compared with a family vote. Hudson Hallum then came up with an idea to buy large amounts of cheap vodka and whiskey and deliver it in a black limousine to entice votes from certain residents.
At the time, District 54 included West Memphis, Marion, Earle and Turrell, as well as other rural areas of Crittenden County.
In addition to the complaints about Hudson Hallum testing positive for prohibited drugs, the petition filed this week notes that he has been “out of range” of his electronic monitoring device without permission more than once.
Prosecutors are asking U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker to order Hallum to participate in an inpatient drug-treatment program followed by outpatient counseling.
Baker scheduled a hearing on the matter for 9:30 a.m. June 10.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/16/2014