Time was apparently on Benjamin Ledwell's side when a Hot Spring County circuit judge threw his negligent homicide case out of court Nov. 29, saying that criminal charges weren't filed until after the one-year statute of limitations had expired.
But Prosecuting Attorney Teresa Howell of Malvern filed notice Thursday that she's appealing the case to the Arkansas Supreme Court, saying one of the high court's administrative orders conflicts with state law regarding when the clock starts on the statute of limitations.
"The [circuit] court relied on Administrative Order 2(b), which presents a conflict with Arkansas Code Annotated 5-1-109(f), which tolls the time when the arrest warrant is prepared," Howell wrote. "As a result, four counts of negligent homicide were dismissed."
"We believe the statute controlled" the clock, Howell said Friday in a telephone interview. "It's an unusual case. Since I have been here, I don't know that we have ever appealed a case. I've been here since '99."
Howell said court transcripts and other documents will be sent to the Arkansas attorney general's office, which will ultimately decide whether to appeal the case to the state Supreme Court.
The main question at issue is: When does the clock start running on statute of limitations?
According to A.C.A. 5-1-109(f), "A prosecution is commenced when an arrest warrant or other process is issued based on an indictment, information or other charging instrument if the arrest warrant or other process is sought to be executed without unreasonable delay."
But, according to Supreme Court Administrative Order 2(b), the clock starts running when charging documents are time-stamped and officially filed. The order states that "a judgment, decree or order is 'entered' when stamped or otherwise marked by the clerk with the time and date and the word 'filed.'"
Circuit Judge Chris Williams dismissed the case after hearing oral arguments Nov. 10 and reading subsequent briefs filed Nov. 17. He cancelled a jury trial that was scheduled to begin Dec. 29.
Four people died in a car crash May 19, 2015. Misdemeanor charges related to that crash were filed against Ledwell on June 6, 2016, the judge ruled.
Williams wrote that it was "clear and undisputed" that the pertinent documents weren't filed by the Hot Spring County circuit clerk's office until June 6, after the statute of limitations had expired.
Howell argues that, under A.C.A. 5-1-109(f), prosecution commenced when she filed a cover sheet, criminal information and affidavit for arrest warrant with the circuit clerk's office May 16.
But a deputy clerk didn't open a criminal docket in Ledwell's case until June 6, after Ledwell had surrendered to authorities and the arrest warrant was returned to the clerk's office. So the official criminal information cover sheet in the case is time stamped at the top with 1:03 p.m. June 6.
Teresa Pilcher testified in the Nov. 10 court hearing. She's chief deputy in the Hot Spring County circuit clerk's office.
Pilcher said it was standard procedure to hold criminal information charging paperwork, their cover sheets and affidavits from the prosecutor's office in a file until after the arrest warrant had been served and returned to the clerk's office, according to a Nov. 17 brief from Stephen L. Shirron, deputy prosecutor in Hot Spring County. Then the clerks open a criminal docket file in the computer system.
Pilcher said she issued a bench warrant for Ledwell on May 16, according to Shirron's brief. On June 2, Ledwell surrendered himself to the Hot Spring County jail.
"The statute on its face does not require anything to be 'filed' to commence a prosecution, only that the warrant be issued based on the [criminal] information," Shirron wrote.
Ledwell's attorney, J. David Crisp of Texarkana, Texas, argued in his Nov. 17 brief that Pilcher's "pending file" wasn't a filing of record based on Administrative Order 2.
Until these documents are a filing of record, they are subject to change or withdrawal, Crisp wrote in his brief.
"To allow this clerk's office to say that it has some sort of 'pending but unfiled' file flies directly in the face of the Arkansas Supreme Court's multiple rulings and Administrative Rule No. 2," Crisp wrote.
On May 19, 2015, Benjamin Ward Ledwell, then 32, of Texarkana, Ark., was involved in a crash on Arkansas 7 in Hot Spring County that killed four members of a Bismarck family: Cindy Rhein, Allen Rhein, Steven Sprankle and Anthony Sprankle.
Ledwell was driving a 2011 Ford F250 pickup. Cindy Rhein was driving a 2006 Chevrolet Uplander.
According to an affidavit from Special Agent Jimmie O. Thomas II with the Arkansas State Police, Ledwell's northbound truck crossed the centerline of the two-lane highway and struck the Uplander in its southbound lane. After the crash, the Uplander caught fire and burned, with three of the victims still inside.
An injured Ledwell was helicoptered to CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs. According to the affidavit, a blood sample taken from Ledwell at the hospital tested positive for benzodiazepines, a class of psychoactive drugs that includes Librium and Valium.
In addition, drugs were taken from Ledwell at the hospital, including loose Xanex pills that were found in his sock, according to the affidavit.
Ledwell told police that he hadn't consumed any alcohol or drugs that day. He told emergency room personnel that he had leaned over to pick up something on the floorboard and drifted into the wrong lane while negotiating a curve, according to the affidavit.
Howell said the dismissal of the case has been tough on the victims' surviving family members.
"I hate it for this family," she said. "It's just gut-wrenching for the family."
Howell said she didn't ask the circuit clerk's office to expedite the criminal filing against Ledwell, believing that her filing with the clerk's office May 16 was within the statute of limitations based on A.C.A. 5-1-109(f).
Mayme Brown, the Hot Spring County circuit clerk, was out of the office this week and unavailable for comment. She is secretary of the Arkansas Circuit Clerks Association.
Martha Jo Smith, the Clark County circuit clerk, said she opens cases when prosecutors tell her to. Normally, that would happen when she received the cover sheet and criminal information from the prosecutor, even if an arrest warrant hadn't been served and returned.
"We don't get the cover sheet until the prosecuting attorney opens the case," said Smith, who is first vice president of the clerks association.
Sharon Blount Baker, the Crawford County circuit clerk, said her office creates a file when it receives the criminal information document from the prosecutor's office. It doesn't wait for a suspect to be arrested and the warrant to be returned.
"We open our criminal case with the criminal information, and that can be with or without a warrant," said Baker, who is second vice president of the clerks association.
Metro on 12/11/2016