For the second time this month, a 46-year-old Little Rock lawyer has been jailed at court order.
Christopher Robert Hart was booked into the Pulaski County jail Tuesday at the order of Pulaski County Circuit Judge Vann Smith and released later in the day. Hart, who has been a licensed attorney since September 2003, was arrested Sunday by Pulaski County sheriff's deputies.
Jail records showed he could be released by paying $10,000 in child support arrears for his 16-year-old son from his first marriage, which ended in November 2004.
The state Office of Child Support Enforcement petitioned the judge in March 2016 to hold Hart in contempt, reporting that he owed $38,338.
In an August 2016 pleading, Hart reported that he had been "continually insolvent" until recently and was attempting to build a private practice after years of working as an attorney for the state.
Court filings show he is a former assistant attorney general and a former lawyer for the Department of Finance and Administration.
In January, the judge ordered Hart to pay $23,206 in arrears with 10 percent annual interest, representing a 12-year span from November 2004 to December 2016. The rate was set at $732 per month.
Court records show he's also under court order to pay $230 per month for a 7-year-old son from his second marriage, which ended in April 2015.
Court filings show Hart did not show up for a contempt hearing on his child-support arrears, a proceeding that had been delayed repeatedly at Hart's request.
On the day of the hearing, Hart told the court he had to appear that same day with a client in another circuit judge's court, Smith wrote in an order. Smith even sent his bailiff to look for Hart, but he could not be found, court filings show.
The judge ordered Hart's arrest on Feb. 8 after Hart did not appear for another hearing on his child support.
Garland County Circuit Court filings show Hart had been arrested a day earlier in Hot Springs at the order of Judge Marcia Hearnsberger after Hart showed up late for his own arraignment on drug and alcohol charges, failed a drug test and was "under the influence of alcohol" when he arrived in court. Hart was released from jail six days later, Feb. 13, after posting a $10,000 bond.
He's charged with felony counts of possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, along with misdemeanor public intoxication.
The charges stem from his Dec. 2 arrest by Hot Springs police investigating a report of a man asleep in a Ford Mustang parked at McAlister's Deli, 3948 Central Ave., about two hours before the restaurant opened.
Hart told officer Rod West that he was resting after visiting a friend on Higdon Ferry Road the previous night where he'd bought the car, according to an arrest report.
Hart's speech was slurred and his eyes were bloodshot, the officer reported. When Hart got out of the car, he smelled of alcohol, and a syringe filled with a clear liquid fell from his lap, the report states.
Questioned about whether he'd been drinking, Hart told police he'd had a pint of vodka the previous night. The officer also reported finding a small plastic bag containing 1.4 grams of suspected methamphetamine and discovered three more syringes inside a small backpack Hart had been holding in the car. The fluid in the first syringe tested negative for drugs, the report states. Hart was released two days later after he posted $8,000 bond.
Metro on 02/22/2017