Federal prosecutors on Friday dropped their attempt to revoke former state Rep. Hudson Hallum’s probation, saying he is now complying with rules set by the court.
Hallum of Marion resigned from his District 54 seat in 2012 after pleading guilty to participating in a 2011 scheme to buy votes with cheap whiskey and vodka, chicken dinners, and cash. He was sentenced to three years’ probation and nine months’ home detention.
In April, prosecutors filed a petition to revoke his probation, noting that he had committed numerous violations of his home detention requirements, including failing several court-ordered drug tests. The petition said that Hallum had tested positive at least seven times since July 29, 2013, for amphetamine and opiate use, though Hallum blamed his use of prescribed diet pills, which he said he believed he was permitted to continue taking.
At a hearing in June, U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker determined that two of the drug tests had resulted in false positives. She agreed to give Hallum a 60-day grace period, which defense attorney Blake Hendrix of Little Rock had negotiated with prosecutors, but ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation.
Baker also asked in June whether Hallum, the owner and an employee of an ambulance service, was in a position to drive ambulances. Hallum said he isn’t working for the ambulance service, Crittenden County Emergency Medical Services, while his emergency medical technician license remains suspended.
On Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tricia Harris cited Hallum’s compliance with probationary rules over the past 60 days in asking to dismiss the request to modify his probation. Baker granted the request.
Hallum, his father and two Crittenden County officials admitted in 2012 that they hatched 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.
Hallum’s father is Kent Hallum, a Marion businessman. The other two defendants were Phillip Wayne Carter, who at the time was a West Memphis councilman and a Crittenden County juvenile probation officer, and Sam Malone, who at the time was a police officer who also served on the Crittenden County Quorum Court and the Crittenden County School Board.