A federal magistrate judge has recommended that a North Little Rock man who is serving a lifetime prison sentence for accumulated felonies be set free or provided a new trial within 120 days.
The case concerns Elliott Harold Finch Jr., 40, who in late 2016 was convicted by a Pulaski County Circuit Court jury of aggravated residential burglary, aggravated assault on a household member and first-degree terroristic threatening, for breaking into his ex-girlfriend's Jacksonville home and threatening her with a gun.
Finch's life sentence on the burglary charge was automatic because of prior convictions for violent crimes related to the May 2005 abduction of his toddler daughter and her mother in Jonesboro, where he formerly lived.
In early 2017, Finch unsuccessfully asked the trial judge, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson, to grant him a new trial because of juror misconduct. He cited a juror's admission that he used his cellphone during deliberations to look something up and the judge's subsequent replacement of the juror with an alternate.
Finch then appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court, arguing that Johnson erred by denying his multiple requests to represent himself at trial, and again citing the juror misconduct issue. After the Arkansas Supreme Court rejected both arguments and affirmed the conviction, Finch filed a petition in federal court through attorney Craig Lambert of North Little Rock asking that his conviction be thrown out because his rights were violated.
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In findings and recommendations issued April 26, U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Harris recommended that U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson reverse the Arkansas Supreme Court and order the state to release Finch from custody or grant him a new trial.
Harris said Johnson incorrectly applied clearly established federal law allowing a defendant to represent himself, assuming he knowingly and intelligently waives his right to an attorney.
She cited numerous pre-trial efforts Finch made to fire his public defender and represent himself, and psychological findings that Finch understood the legal process.
Partial transcripts of hearings indicated that Johnson was concerned that Finch didn't fully appreciate that he faced a life sentence for being a habitual offender, even though Finch told the judge that he understood a guilty verdict could result in a life sentence because of his prior violent offenses.
Harris said Johnson "did not conduct an orderly examination of Finch to determine if he understood the dangers and disadvantages of self-representation," and that questions the judge posed "often centered around Finch's technical legal knowledge rather than whether he was aware of his right to counsel and of the possible consequences of proceeding without counsel."
The Arkansas Supreme Court upheld Finch's conviction based on three factual findings, two of which Harris said "were based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented to the trial court." She said the Supreme Court wrongly found that Finch didn't "unequivocally" ask to represent himself and that the trial court could have found that his conduct was disruptive.
"The Court finds that Finch's constitutional right to self-representation was violated," Harris wrote, adding that the right "cannot be harmless as the violation is a structural error that affects the right of self-representation within which the trial proceeds."
Wilson will review the magistrate judge's recommendations, and any objections to them, before deciding whether to adopt them.
Metro on 05/04/2019