A divided Arkansas Supreme Court upheld the life sentence of a Jackson County man convicted in a 2013 shooting that left a 20-month-old child dead and her mother wounded.
On Thursday, justices upheld multiple convictions, including capital murder, of Robert Friar, who had argued that he was arrested without cause and that subsequent interviews and evidence were tainted and should not have been used against him at trial.
Writing for the majority ruling in a 4-3 ruling, Justice Courtney Goodson wrote that officers had enough suspicion to arrest Friar within hours of a shooting that peppered the home of Friar's ex-girlfriend, Delana Aguirre, injuring Aguirre and killing her daughter, Tacquari.
Goodson also wrote that the lower court was right to exclude testimony from Friar's aunt just a month before trial in which she claimed another man confessed to the shooting -- a man who died from a drug overdose about a month after the crime.
Justice Jo Hart dissented, as did Justice Paul Danielson and Chief Justice Howard Brill. Hart wrote that a jury should have decided the credibility of Friar's aunt.
In a separate dissent, Danielson criticized law enforcement officials, saying they didn't follow proper procedures.
"The state's primary arguments to support its claim that the officers had probable cause to arrest Friar is that Aguirre and [another person] told officers that Friar was the shooter. ... In an attempt to explain why the officers arrested Friar without any evidence he was the shooter, the State claims that at the time of the arrest, the officers were not aware that no one had seen Friar firing the gun," Danielson wrote. "Following this flawed logic, anyone could have been arrested for this shooting based simply on a statement by another person."
Aguirre was going to bed about 2:30 a.m. in her Newport residence in February 2013 after she received a threatening text from Friar, with whom she had broken up after months of physical abuse.
"Yea i will have the last say so u n ur mom tell d kids u love them," Friar's text read.
Aguirre answered the phone and told police she could tell it was Friar. Gunfire broke out; Aguirre was hit three times and Tacquari was struck once.
Aguirre told police she knew Friar had a gun and she believed he was the shooter, even though she did not see him.
Friar was picked up by officers a few miles away. He denied being the shooter and denied being in the area. When officers lied and said cell towers placed him near the scene, he admitted to being near the home.
He was convicted of 10 felonies related to the shooting. He was sentenced to life in prison.
His aunt, Bessie Brandon, said another man, Tony Miller, confessed to her to killing "that baby." Brandon claimed that Miller committed suicide in March 2013 over his guilt in the infant's slaying. Prosecutors succeeded in keeping her account out of court.
The Supreme Court found that Jackson County Circuit Judge Harold Erwin did not err because Friar failed to show the potentially mitigating evidence came from a "trustworthy" source, court records said.
Goodson wrote that officers had enough cause to arrest Friar, given his criminal history, his antagonism with law enforcement officials and the quick-paced scenario in which officers handled the crime.
After the court's ruling, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge lauded the outcome. She argued the case in oral arguments before the court in Batesville a few months ago.
"It was a tremendous opportunity for me to appear before the Arkansas Supreme Court and argue this case in my hometown," she wrote. "I want Arkansans to know that I am committed to protecting them from dangerous criminals and keeping those offenders locked away."
The prosecuting attorney in Friar's trial, Harry Boyce, also issued a statement commending the court for affirming a 165-year prison term for Friar.
"This is easily one of the most significant cases I have ever taken to trial and I am happy the Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the jury," Boyce wrote.
Metro on 06/12/2016