Pulaski County JP candidate Jefferson disqualified over hot-check conviction

Barry Jefferson is shown in this file photo.
Barry Jefferson is shown in this file photo.

A 16-year-old misdemeanor hot-check conviction means Barry Jefferson can't hold elected office, a Pulaski County circuit judge ruled Friday, invalidating the votes for Jefferson's campaign for the county quorum court.

Jefferson, 46, did not win the election, losing to incumbent 53-year-old Kristina "KG" Gulley, 905 to 602, to represent District 10 on the Quorum Court, according to the unofficial tally.

But Jefferson, of Jacksonville, was the only candidate left after Gulley's own hot-check convictions made her ineligible to run for office, although she remains in the position unless a separate removal procedure is initiated.

Judge Mackie Pierce's ruling came hours before the Pulaski County Election Commission met Friday night to certify the results of the May elections, but in light of Pierce's decision commissioners did not certify a winner in the District 10 primary race.

Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde said Friday night that the Quorum Court will likely vote on a resolution that will kick-start the process to replace the open seat.

To replace Gulley, Hyde said, the quorum court will need to vote on a resolution declaring Gulley's seat vacant, which would clear the way for Gov. Asa Hutchinson to appoint someone to serve the remainder of Gulley's term, which ends Dec. 31.

"I don't know what method they will resolve this by, but I'm going to assume there is such a vehicle out there," Hyde said.

The challenge to Jefferson's candidacy was brought by Gulley's supporters who believe he is behind the effort that saw her disqualified last month.

Presenting proof of Jefferson's conviction to the judge Friday was 70-year-old Florence Wiley. Most of the evidence Wiley offered was disallowed by the judge as unhelpful to resolving the question of Jefferson's fitness for office, but she was able to provide a notarized copy of the court docket for Jefferson's 2006 conviction in Sherwood.

Wiley called Gulley to testify but the judge disallowed that too.

"Why is this relevant?" Pierce asked Wiley.

"If she's not qualified, he's not qualified either," Wiley told the judge.

"[Her testimony] doesn't help me make my decision," the judge said.

Testifying briefly was De'Ann Scott, 68, of North Little Rock, who described how the women used the Freedom of Information Act to find out about Jefferson.

Jefferson did not attend the hearing and did not have legal representation. He'd asked the judge Friday morning to postpone the hearing because he had to be at work, but the judge declined to reschedule the proceeding. The disqualification petition was filed Monday. Jefferson was served Tuesday.

Gulley, of North Little Rock, was disqualified two weeks before the election by Circuit Judge Chip Welch, acting on a petition challenging the legitimacy of her candidacy brought by Henry Robinson, 34, and Detrice Robinson, 37, of North Little Rock. The husband and wife reported that Gulley has two misdemeanor hot-check convictions in Faulkner County in October 1997 and March 2003. They and Jefferson denied any collusion in having Gulley disqualified.

Hot-check convictions are considered to be what the Arkansas Constitution calls "infamous crimes," a conviction for which disqualifies a candidate from holding elected office. The hot-check statute, Arkansas Code 5-37-302, defines it as a crime of "fraud" and "deceit."

Article 5 of the Constitution states "no person ... convicted of embezzlement of public money, bribery, forgery or other infamous crime shall be eligible to the General Assembly or capable of holding any office or trust or profit in this state."

The Constitution's definition of "infamous" crimes includes "a misdemeanor offense in which the finder of fact was required to find, of the defendant to admit, an act of deceit, fraud, or false statement."

In a recent ruling in Gulley's case, Welch wrote the courts are bound to "the inflexible line of Supreme Court pronouncements concerning candidates" like the high court's 2020 holding that a hot check conviction was a disqualifying event.

The judge further noted "the unintended consequence of a global political search for candidates, with lives devoid of misdemeanors, and as unsullied as Caesar's Wife, may plunge state and county government into political 'gotcha' gamesmanship and unintended Karmic consequences."

Information for this article was contributed by Neal Earley of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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