CONWAY -- Faulkner County Clerk Margaret Darter pleaded innocent to a felony tampering charge Monday as the county's three election commissioners turned out in a show of support for her remaining in office through the forthcoming elections.
The charge resulted from an Arkansas State Police investigation into the handling of public officials' financial records by one or more employees in Darter's office.
Darter, accompanied Monday by her husband, Joe Darter, did not speak during the arraignment and did not reply afterward when asked if she had any comment.
Darter, a Republican seeking her second term in office, has not commented publicly since she was charged Oct. 27 with one count of tampering with public records.
Her attorney, Frank Shaw, entered the innocent plea on her behalf in Faulkner County Circuit Court as she stood beside him.
Shaw patted Darter on the shoulder just before he entered that plea before Judge Charles Clawson Jr.
Shaw told Clawson that the prosecution had only recently shared its evidence with him but had set a Friday afternoon deadline for her to accept or reject a negotiated plea.
"The deadline is past" to accept that plea, Shaw complained, saying he has not had time to review the evidence and needs to see more of it before he can give his client "adequate advice."
Neither Shaw nor the prosecutors would disclose details of what the prosecution had offered Darter.
Brian Clary, a deputy prosecutor who is handling the case for Saline County Prosecuting Attorney Ken Casady, said in court that he had no response to Shaw's comments and also declined to comment on them later.
"I don't know what Mr. Shaw's practices are and what kind of communication he's had with her," Clary said.
Casady was named the special prosecutor after Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland, whose jurisdiction includes Faulkner County, recused. Hiland, a Republican, said he had supported Darter in her campaign last year.
Shaw noted after the hearing that it was not "within [the judge's] powers" to hand down a plea offer.
"I was asking, in essence, [for] the prosecutor to extend this artificial deadline," Shaw said.
In June, Hiland asked state police to determine whether anyone in the clerk's office had tampered with public officials' past-due statements of financial interest to make it appear that the forms had been filed on time. Such statements provide information about the sources of income and holdings that public officials and their spouses had during the previous year.
In a Feb. 27 email obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette earlier this year, Darter told the county's justices of the peace that they should file those statements immediately and that she would "hand file them for January 31st."
In an interview with state police Special Agent David Moss on July 31, "Darter stated she was filing the forms for January 31, 2015 to give the Justices of the Peace 'peace of mind' because the previous clerk used to notify them that the forms were due by January 31st and she had not done that," says an affidavit signed by Moss and filed in circuit court.
Plea negotiations vary but often provide for defendants to plead guilty or no contest to a less-severe charge and serve a lighter sentence than they otherwise might have faced. Neither side then has to worry about a trial and a jury's reaction.
The Class D felony charge against Darter is punishable by up to six years in prison upon a conviction.
Faulkner County's attorney, David Hogue, has said he believes that state law would mandate that a judge remove her from office if she is convicted of the charge.
Arkansas Code Annotated 21-12-302 says in part, "Upon conviction of any county or township officer for an offense involving incompetency, corruption, gross immorality, criminal conduct amounting to a felony, malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, a part of the sentence of the circuit court having jurisdiction shall be to remove such officer from office."
Paul Foster, the Republican chairman of the county's Election Commission, attended the hearing along with fellow Republican Commissioner Ken Fairless and Democratic Commissioner Ronnie Hall.
Foster said afterward that the three wanted Darter to remain in office through the primaries in March and the general elections next November because otherwise it would not be "well-organized." Hall and Fairless stood nearby and said they agreed.
Foster said the commissioners were not endorsing Darter's campaign. He also said he was not commenting on the validity of the charge against her.
"As far as the court case, I haven't looked into it," he said. "I haven't asked anybody about it. I haven't asked her about it."
Darter, 53, has one opponent, Marvin Lessmann, in the Republican primary on March 1. The primary winner will face Democrat Penny McClung in November.
Darter's next pretrial hearing is set for Jan. 25.
State Desk on 11/24/2015