The Arkansas Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the revocation of suspended sentences for a Drew County man convicted of violating conditions of his suspended sentence.
Jarvis Dillard pleaded guilty to commercial burglary, theft of property and being a felon in possession of a firearm in 201 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with an additional eight years suspended with conditions of not using any controlled substances and not committing any other felony or misdemeanor offenses.
In 2021 prosecutors filed petitions to revoke that suspended sentence, alleging Dillard had tested positive for drugs and committed new crimes, specifically manslaughter and criminal mischief.
During a hearing on revoking the suspended sentence prosecutors presented evidence that on Nov. 12, 2021, Dillard pulled into the parking lot of Walmart in Monticello, and claimed he got dizzy. He said when he got to feeling better, he started to back out of a parking space and a customer honked her horn at him. The customer testified that it looked like Dillard got agitated because he “floored it” causing his car to spin around, striking several other cars and killing a woman who was loading groceries into her car.
Dillard testified positive for the use of methamphetamine and marijuana and the trial judge revoked his suspended sentence. He appealed that ruling but the court of appeals noted that Dillard had told police he had used drugs in the days prior to the incident and testified in court that he had used drugs while on suspended imposition of sentence.
The court went on to say that there was no basis for the appeal based on the evidence presented
