War vet who killed girlfriend wrongly convicted of murder, justices hear

An Iraqi war veteran who killed his girlfriend in November 2009 was mentally ill and should not have been convicted of murder, his attorneys told the Arkansas SupremeCourt on Thursday.

Little Rock attorney Rickey Hicks told the court that Steven Russell suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and alcoholism. Mental illness twisted Russell’s perception of reality andprevented him from obeying the law, Hicks argued.

But attorneys for the state said Russell had received a fair trial and had been found guilty by a jury of his peers.

The trial was presided over by Pulaski County CircuitJudge Wendell Griffen.

Russell was convicted of capital murder in January 2012 for the death of Joy Owens, a 24-year-old North Little Rock high school English teacher, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Trial testimony showed that Russell told police he had shot the woman after an argument and that he called officers two hours after the shooting to surrender.

Russell’s defense team had argued that the soldier wasscarred from his experiences in Iraq, where he disarmed improvised explosive devices. Before the case was tried before a jury, Hicks requested a mental-health evaluation for his client. A doctor from theState Hospital who was designated by a judge to perform the exam found that Russell lacked the ability to “conform his conduct to the law” and was “directed by his impaired perception,” according to court filings.

But prosecutors had their own expert witness who disagreed with that assessment.

Assistant Attorney General LeaAnn Adams told the court that the state was allowed to present rebuttal evidence, which it did by hiring another expert. She said the trial judge made the right decision to allow the case to proceed.

“That does not belie the fact that a serious criminal offense occurred,” Adams said.

Little Rock attorney David Bowden, who is also representing Russell, said Griffen was wrong to ask jurors to continue deliberating even after being told that they were deadlocked. Griffen had rejected a defense attorneys’ request for a mistrial even after jurors said they couldn’t reach a verdict, Bowden said.

But Justice Paul Danielson questioned whether defense attorneys had properly made their objections to the mistrial motion at the time of the trial - which is necessary if the issue is going to be appealed.

“It’s very difficult and patently unfair to reverse something that the trial court never had an opportunity to rule on,” Danielson said.

Russell, who is serving his sentence at the Arkansas Department of Correction’s Cummins Unit in Grady, wasn’t present for the hearing. It’s not clear when the court will issue its ruling.

In other business, the court cautioned two lawyers after separate investigations by the Office of Professional Conduct.

Jonesboro lawyer Paul Ford was cautioned after he agreed to investigate a medical malpractice case and failed to inform his client when he decided to abandon the case. Ford told the committee that he thought he had informed his client, but found he had no records to confirm it.

Ford was also ordered to pay $50 in costs.

Hot Springs lawyer Joshua Hurst was cautioned for failing to file a complaint for a client and then making several filings after the client dismissed him. Hurst was ordered to pay a fine, restitution and costs totaling $2,550.

The court also accepted the voluntary surrender of a law license from a Nashville, Tenn., lawyer. Jay Cloud wrote in his petition to the court that he last paid his license fees in 2002 and thought his license would become inactive without action.

Petitioning the court is the only way to give up a law license in the state.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 09/27/2013

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