Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen cut contempt-of-court fines imposed on defense attorney Bill James from $25,000 to $5,000 on Tuesday, acknowledging the lesser amount was the most he could impose.
But the judge did not relent on his decision that James had repeatedly violated evidentiary rules Griffen had set for the manslaughter trial of former Little Rock police officer Josh Hastings.
Hastings is scheduled for his third trial in May. Two previous trials have ended with jurors unable to reach a verdict.
Citing privacy laws that restrict the dissemination of juvenile criminal records, Griffen has limited what can be publicly disclosed to jurors about the juvenile convictions of the two boys who were with 15-year-old Bobby Joe “Weedy” Moore III when he was killed.
James demonstrated “flagrant disobedience” of those rules, Griffen wrote, both in his questioning of the teens, Keontay Walker and Jeremiah Johnson, and his description of them to jurors in his opening statement and closing argument.
Breaking the rules was a deliberate tactic, the judge stated in his 12-page ruling Tuesday.
“[It’s] beyond question, that Mr. James engaged in the disobedient conduct pursuant to a calculated defense strategy,” the judge wrote. “Despite knowing the court’s ruling, Mr. James defied it persistently, deliberately and inexcusably. The claim that he didn’t know what the court ruled or didn’t know he was disobeying the court amounts to a brazen misstatement, to put it charitably.”
Griffen concluded Hastings’ first trial in June by holding James in contempt after jurors failed to reach a verdict.
But until Tuesday, the judge did not commit his findings to paper in a manner that would satisfy the Arkansas Supreme Court.
James had attempted to appeal the contempt citation based on the judge’s written findings in an earlier order, a denial of a defense motion for a new trial and to rescind the contempt fine.
The high court rejected James’ appeal earlier this month after determining that the order was insufficient for an appeal.
Griffen’s latest order is a slightly edited version of that earlier ruling, with the judge acknowledging the limits on contempt fines at $500 per violation, the equivalent of a traffic ticket. Griffen had ordered $2,500 per violation.
Tuesday’s ruling starts the clock on a second appeal by James. He has challenged the judge’s authority to limit disclosure of the teens’ records.
In August 2012, Hastings was investigating complaints about car burglaries when he shot Moore, who was driving a car that Hastings claimed had tried to run him down. Walker and Johnson were passengers in the car.
The subsequent police investigation did not support Hastings’ version of events, and prosecutors have disputed the car was even moving toward him when he shot Moore. Hastings was fired and charged with manslaughter.
The trio was breaking into cars that night, but prosecutors dispute the teens knew police were closing in on them. Hastings was reckless when he fired into the car not knowing who was inside, prosecutors say.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/26/2014