By Ray King
A Desha County man convicted of second-degree battery and being a felon in possession of a firearm failed to convince the Arkansas Supreme Court that prosecutors at his original trial did not tell the defense that witnesses in his trial had extensive criminal records, affecting the outcome of the trial.
Roy Lee Russell, 60, had been charged in Desha County Circuit Court in 2012 with three counts of kidnapping, one count of aggravated assault, three counts of rape, one count of second-degree battery and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
A jury found him not guilty of all the counts except the second-degree battery and being a felon in possession of a firearm and he was sentenced as an habitual offender to a total of 660 months in prison.
The State Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction and Russell sought the approval of the Supreme Court to send the case back to the trial court to consider his claims.
Writing for the Supreme Court, Associate Justice Robin Wynne said criminal records for one of the witnesses is public record and are not subject to being withheld. Russell also claimed that the second witness had a juvenile record, he did not present evidence to support that claim.
Russell contended that his conviction rested on the testimony of three witnesses including two who had criminal records but Wynne said in the ruling that there was other testimony and evidence presented at trial that corroborated the witness testimony.
Russell is serving his sentence at the Delta Regional Unit at Dermott and will be eligible to apply for parole in May 2022.
