An 80-year-old man serving a decade-long prison sentence won his appeal Wednesday -- reversing part of a separate 1995 sentence.
But the win may not matter after all. He's in prison on a separate case.
Alton Hice's first run-in with the law was in 1994, when he was arrested on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. Hice pleaded guilty to the charges, receiving a 120-day stint in the Sebastian County jail and two 10-year probation sentences to run consecutively. State prosecutors revoked his probation twice.
On the third go-round, Hice argued prosecutors could not do that because the revocation was based on an illegal sentence.
The Arkansas Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed, reversing the consecutive probation sentences, saying lawmakers changed the statute prohibiting stacked probation sentences.
In Hice's case, the state first revoked his probation in February 2001 because he didn't register as a sex offender. In that case, Hice pleaded no contest and spent 60 days in jail. His probation sentences from 1995 remained intact.
Five years later, prosecutors contended Hice had contact with children without any supervision. The Sebastian County man again pleaded no contest, receiving a 15-day jail stint and again leaving the 1995 probation sentence in effect.
Hice raised his appeal after authorities nabbed him Oct. 9, 2013, marking his third arrest. At the time, prosecutors charged Hice with second-degree sexual assault, and he tried to dismiss the petition.
The Sebastian County Circuit Court denied Hice's motion and later revoked the probation once more, giving him the nearly 10-year prison sentence. Hice's appeal attorney, David Dunagin, pointed to Arkansas Code Annotated 5-4-307(b), which mandates probation sentences run concurrently.
The Court of Appeals agreed that the Circuit Court's revocation was based on an illegal sentence.
"Accordingly, Hice's August 1, 1995 sentence was illegal, and his suspended sentences expired in 2005," appeals court Judge Raymond Abramson wrote in an opinion. "Thus, no period of suspension existed in 2013 upon which the court could revoke, and therefore we reverse."
But, Hice ended up pleading guilty to the 2013 charge, landing him back in prison, according to records and Dunagin. Hice is eligible for parole in January.
Metro on 02/22/2015