By Ray King
The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday said Circuit Judge Jodi Raines Dennis was correct when she denied the petition of an inmate who claimed that the prison sentence he was given exceeded the legal limits existing at that time.
While saying that Dennis acted correctly, the high court sent the case back to her with orders to transfer it to the Union County court that improperly sentenced Romario Waller.
Waller, 43, also contended that his convictions for first-degree battery and arson were void because he did not plead guilty to either offense.
He filed the appeal in Dennis’s court because he is currently an inmate at the Varner Supermax Unit of the Department of Corrections.
Court records showed that in 1996, Waller pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, arson, and first-degree battery in Union County. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder, 20 years for the arson, and 20 years on each of two counts of first-degree battery. The sentences were to run concurrently for a total of 480 months, or 40 years. He was also sentenced to concurrent suspended sentences of 60 months, or five years, on each offense.
Writing for the high court, Associate Justice Shawn A. Womack said the total sentence represented an upward departure from the presumptive sentence. The Union County Prosecutor explained that by including information on incidents that resulted in the arson and battery charges. That information was that Waller had set fire to his mattress in the Union County jail and assaulted two inmates.
Waller initially appealed his conviction, arguing that the 40-year sentence was in excess of the presumptive sentence of 36 years based on the sentencing guidelines in effect at that time. The appeal was rejected after the court pointed out that he had agreed to the sentence as part of a plea agreement on multiple counts.
As to his claim that he never pleaded guilty to the arson and battery charges, the high court said he was made aware of the charges when he signed the plea agreement and could have challenged them within 90 days of the date the judgment was entered, instead of waiting 24 years to make the claim.
Womack said in the court ruling that Waller pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, a Class Y felony, which carries a sentence of not less than 10 and not more than 40 years or life in prison so the 40-year sentence is not illegal on its face.
However, Waller was also given a five-year suspended sentence on top of the 40 years and Womack said that exceeded the maximum sentence for the crime. The same is true for the five-year suspended sentences Waller received for each of the two battery convictions, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Womack said because the sentences for murder and battery were more that state law permits, the Union County Circuit Court was not authorized to impose them. The court document directs the Union County Circuit Court to resentence Waller “with respect to the suspended sentences for murder and battery.’
