A Pulaski County circuit judge ruled Friday that he does not have the authority to determine whether the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s chief legal counsel lied in court during proceedings to determine whether the agency was required to hold the fall 2009 turkey-hunting season.
The case is currently on appeal before the Arkansas Supreme Court, which could decide the issue.
Friday’s proceedings were the latest in what has developed into a legal battle pitting millionaire outdoorsman Sheffield Nelson and his grandson,David Sheffield Clark of Conway, against Game and Fish over whether the commission respects and follows state public-disclosure laws, the Freedom of Information Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.
Asked to hold lawyer Jim Goodhart in contempt, Judge Wendell Griffen concluded a 90-minute hearing by deciding the question of wrongdoing was out of his hands and that it should be settled by the agency that polices lawyers’ behavior, the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct.
Griffen said his ruling also will bind a request by Game and Fish that the lawyer who accused Goodhart, David Carruth, was misleading during the proceedings and should also be held in contempt.
“This is not a review ... on the merits [of the accusations],” Griffen said. “The court is simply finding it lacks jurisdiction.”
Goodhart has denied misleading Griffen’s predecessor, Willard Proctor Jr. Goodhart’s attorney, Joey Price, told the judge that Carruth doesn’t have proof beyond speculation that Goodhart was deceptive.
“Mr. Carruth doesn’t have actual knowledge [of wrongdoing],” Price said.
Carruth claims Goodhart, assisted by a paralegal, lied when he said the commission had followed the proper procedures to notify the public that the season was being canceled. Carruth said Proctor made a significant ruling in the case based on Goodhart’s representation. But Price said that reviewing Goodhart’s exact statement showed he was being honest.
“It was truthful then,” Price said. “It’s truthful today ... and it will be truthful tomorrow.”
He argued that Griffen’s authority to hold Goodhart in contempt expired in May when the case went on appeal - seven months before the judge took office and about a month after another Griffen predecessor, Ernest Sanders, threw out the lawsuit, which challenged the agency’s decision to cancel the 2009 fall season.
“It was 16 months ago andsince that time, we’ve had [three] judges to sit on that bench, including you,” Price said, at one point joking he feared being accused of lying to the judge just for misspeaking on a point of law.
The judge is also limited as to what activities he can punish, Price said. Criminal contempt as outlined in Arkansas Code 16-10-108 only allows judges to punish a handful of wrongdoings, and Goodhart is accused of none of them, he told the judge. Those offenses are bad behavior, disrupting proceedings, disobeying orders and witness recalcitrance.
Carruth maintained Griffen was free to act on the accusations, arguing that a lawyer who lies to the judge is just as bad as one who would physically disrupt court proceedings by turning over tables and damaging court property. He said he was asking Griffen “to uphold the integrity of our court system.”
“I know you weren’t judge at that time, but it’s your court,” he said. “This is ugly business but the evidence is so abundantly clear of misconduct. Mr. Goodhart lied to the court. He wanted to win it so bad he thought he could slip it by.”
Questioned by the judge about possible sanctions, Carruth said Goodhart should be put on trial for criminal contempt, which could lead to jail time. Carruth said he wanted Goodhart to pay his legal fees, estimating that he has put $50,000 worth of work into the case since itwas filed in October 2009, with $40,000 worth of that labor coming since October when the appeal work began in earnest. An anonymous tip in December led him to review the case, Carruth said, telling the judge he had no reason before not to trust Goodhart.
“Why would I have any reason to not take the word of the chief counsel of a major state agency at facevalue?” Carruth said, telling the judge he could no longer rely on the integrity of the commission’s attorneys. “This is not some small-town lawyer who can’t get something right.”
The hearing opened with one of Goodhart’s attorneys, Mike Shannon, asking the judge to bar the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette from photographing the proceedings. Griffen complied, saying court rules require him to ban photography when any party asks.
“I don’t have the power to allow you to photograph,” Griffen said to the photographer.
Asked about his resistance to photographs, Shannon said after the hearing he acted out of consideration for the witnesses who could have been called to testify.
“I didn’t want any additional pressure on the witnesses,” he said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/26/2011