Searcy County sheriff must go, state argues

Conviction bars him from job, judge told

Thursday, November 15, 2012

— The Arkansas attorney general’s office has appealed a circuit judge’s ruling that allowed Searcy County Sheriff Kenny Cassell to remain in office despite a misdemeanor conviction decades ago.

In August, a special appointed judge, David Clinger, ruled in Searcy County Circuit Court that Cassell could remain in office.

In the appeal filed Tuesday, the attorney general’s office urged the Supreme Court to reverse the lowercourt ruling and order Cassell removed from office.

In October 1979, Cassell pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of a federal law involving embezzlement or theft of interstate or foreign shipments of a carrier — specifically some frozen Cornish hens that had been stolen. Cassell was a sheriff’s deputy at the time.

Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland’s office petitioned in November 2011 to have Cassell removed from office. The effort failed, and Cassell was re-elected to a second term this month.

Both Hiland and Cassell are Republicans.

In refusing to oust Cassell, Clinger said the theft did not take place while Cassell was in office. The judge also said he thought there had to be evidence that the crime had “impugned the integrity of the office and directly impacted on the Sheriff’s ability to serve as an election official.”

When Cassell first ran for sheriff, he ran a paid newspaper advertisement telling voters of his past crime and they elected him anyway, Clinger noted.

The state’s appeal cited Article 5, Section 9 of the Arkansas Constitution, which provides that no “person hereafter convicted of embezzlement of public money, bribery, forgery or other infamous crime, shall be eligible to the General Assembly or capable of holding any office of trust or profit in this State.”

The attorney general’s office wrote that the Supreme Court “has interpreted this constitutional provision on many occasions, including two recent cases where the Court held that misdemeanor crimes involving elements of dishonesty constituted infamous crimes that disqualified offenders from holding office.”

Referring to Cassell’s advertisement and to the fact that voters elected him anyway, the attorney general’s office wrote, “As a matter of law, conviction of an infamous crime permanently disqualifies a person from holding office, and the disqualification may not be overcome by the will of the electorate.”

Joe Don Winningham, the Conway lawyer who represents Cassell, said Wednesday that his client will oppose the appeal and that he will file a legal response later.

“I feel very confident in our case,” Winningham added.

Arkansas, Pages 10 on 11/15/2012