The Wonder State

By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Posted: August 4, 2009 at 6:24 a.m.

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LITTLE ROCK — It's hard to know what's stranger about that story that our Debra (Scoop a Day) Hale-Shelton had in Sunday's paper. Was it that a former state trooper, whose duties surely included preserving the chain of evidence, decided to submit his own DNA in place of his brother's in the course of a criminal investigation? And for no clear reason. Or that he should have announced for sheriff of Faulkner County?

Why would anyone so mess up a criminal investigation and any prosecution that might result from it? Yes, strange.

This much is clear: The former trooper and current justice of the peace, Jerry Roberts, shouldn't have anything to do with law enforcement after an inexplicable caper like this.

Here's what strikes us as the strangest thing about this strange story: that Mr. Roberts, JP, doesn't see anything wrong with what he did. "I still think it was the right thing to do." And this: "I did what I thought was best at the time, and it was legal in an effort to pursue the truth." How, exactly, do you "pursue the truth" by submitting your DNA under somebody else's name as part of a criminal investigation? Somebody needs to explain that one to us. And so much more. Arkansas used to be called the Wonder State. Clearly, the wonders have not ceased.

Editorial, Pages 10 on 08/04/2009

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