HOT SPRINGS -- A petition for relief filed in March to reduce the 24-year prison sentence of a former elementary school teacher convicted in 2016 on 10 counts involving child pornography was denied Monday after a short hearing in Garland County Circuit Court.
Attorney Q. Byrum Hurst filed the motion March 28 on behalf of Zachary Thomas Nehus, 46, who pleaded guilty March 1, 2016, to 10 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. Nehus was sentenced March 21, 2016, by a jury after a two-day hearing.
The jury recommended a sentence of three years on eight of the counts, to run consecutively, for a total of 24 years, and 10 years in prison, suspended, on the two remaining counts, so Nehus will serve 10 years of probation after his release.
Nehus was arrested Sept. 25, 2014, and originally charged with 30 counts involving child pornography, but prosecutors agreed to withdraw 20 of the counts as part of his negotiated plea deal.
Assistant Arkansas Attorney General Jill Irwin argued Monday that Judge John Homer Wright had no jurisdiction to hear the petition because the time to file an appeal in the case "has long since expired" under Arkansas law.
"The defendant had over two years to appeal the verdict through the proper channels," Irwin said, noting no direct appeal or Rule 37 argument regarding effectiveness of counsel were filed within the 30 days allowed. "There is no basis for this hearing."
Wright agreed with Irwin.
"I don't think I have jurisdiction," Wright said in denying the petition, noting that he allowed Hurst to make his arguments on the record. "You can present your case to the Court of Appeals, and if they choose to remand it back we can have a full-blown hearing."
According to Nehus' arrest affidavit, special agents with the Arkansas attorney general's office had conducted an investigation into the possession and distribution of child pornography, which led them to Nehus' residence.
Pursuant to the execution of a search warrant, the agents made contact with Nehus, who admitted to downloading, viewing and collecting child porn.
State Desk on 08/02/2018