Top trial lawyer in Arkansas charged with DWI

Jesse Gibson
Jesse Gibson

Jesse Gibson, the president-elect of the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association who had been mulling a campaign for attorney general, was arrested Thursday night on a charges including driving while intoxicated.

According to booking information at the Pulaski County jail, Gibson, 43, was charged with a first-offense DWI, careless driving and refusal to submit to a chemical test.

He is set for plea and arraignment on Dec. 27, according to online court records.

According to a Little Rock Police Department arrest report at the jail, officers responded to an accident around 11:30 p.m. Thursday night near Gibson’s home on Edgewood Road.

Responding officers reported finding Gibson unsteady on his feet and smelling of intoxicants. Gibson refused a field sobriety test, they said.

Gibson, a Democrat, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette earlier this week he was considering challenging Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge in her re-election bid next year, but had yet to make up his mind.

In a text message Friday afternoon, Gibson said he would not be a candidate for political office in 2018.

“I hope you can appreciate that I consider this a private matter that my wife and I are working through,” Gibson said, adding later, “it goes without saying I am deeply sorry for an inconvenience this may have caused the owner of the parked car.”

In addition to being the incoming head of the Trial Lawyers Association, Gibson serves on the House of Delegates for the state Bar Association.

His private firm in Little Rock, Gibson Law Firm, specializes in personal injury, civil litigation and medical negligence cases, according to his website.

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