LITTLE ROCK -- A lawsuit intended to halt former state Rep. Jimmie Wilson's comeback campaign in a heavily Democratic state House District was tossed by a Pulaski County circuit judge on Wednesday, allowing Wilson to remain on the ballot for the time being.
The ruling, by Circuit Judge Alice Gray, dismissed a complaint filed by a Phillips County woman who charged that Wilson, a Democrat, was ineligible to hold public office because of decades-old misdemeanor convictions in federal court for illegal use of farm loans and selling mortgaged crops.
Gray also dismissed a motion to intervene filed by the Republican nominee in House District 12, David Tollett.
Tollett and Wilson would face each other in the Nov. 3 general election, with the winner serving a two-year term starting in January.
In a pair of orders outlining her decision, Gray noted numerous errors in filings made by attorneys seeking to remove Wilson from the ballot.
Those errors prevented attorneys from proving that Wilson had been convicted of a disqualifying crime, she said.
She ordered both complaints dismissed with prejudice, preventing them from being refiled.
Wilson, an attorney who represented himself in the matter, declined to comment Wednesday, saying he had not read Gray's decision.
Republicans have viewed issues surrounding Wilson's candidacy as an opportunity to flip a seat that has traditionally been Democratic.
The House district is based in Helena-West Helena and covers several counties in the Arkansas Delta.
Soon after Gray blocked the Republican Party's attempts to become involved in the case Wednesday, the state GOP said it would appeal that decision to the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Wilson, who served in the House from 1991-98, last month was nominated at a convention of local Democrats to replace then-Rep. Chris Richey, D- Helena-West Helena, on the general election ballot after Richey resigned to take a new job in another area of the state.
Wilson defeated two other Democrats for the nomination, despite warnings from state Democratic Party officials that Wilson's convictions might make him ineligible for office even though he received a pardon from then-President Bill Clinton in early 2001.
Republicans had threatened to take legal action if Wilson was nominated.
Instead of Republicans filing a challenge, however, the lawsuit against Wilson's candidacy was filed by Caleb Baumgardner, an attorney from El Dorado with ties to Democratic politics, on behalf of Lisa Ramey, a resident of Helena-West Helena.
At a hearing last week, Gray questioned Ramey's standing to challenge Wilson's candidacy, noting Baumgardner failed to state clearly in the complaint whether his client was a registered voter in House District 12. (Voter records indicate Ramey is registered within the district.)
Gray went so far as to say that she was "perturbed" by other issues in the case, including the inability of both Baumgardner and Tollett's attorneys to properly serve documents to other parties.
"I believe this case has been a disaster from the beginning," Gray said.
Still, she allowed Baumgardner, Wilson and attorneys for both the Democratic Party of Arkansas and for Tollett, the Republican candidate in House District 12, to make their arguments Friday.
Annie Depper, an attorney for the Democratic Party of Arkansas, spoke against Wilson's motion to have the case against him dismissed and instead asked Gray to overturn judicial precedent by allowing Wilson to remain on the ballot.
"I do think there are issues before the court that need to be decided," Depper said.
In her order, however, Gray declined to rule on the question of Wilson's eligibility. Instead, Gray wrote that Ramey didn't have standing, and that even if she did, her attorney "failed to meet her burden of proof that Wilson had been convicted of any disqualifying crime."
Michael John Gray, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas, praised Judge Gray's decision to dismiss the case with prejudice, and said it all but ensured that Wilson would be on the ballot in November
"We're moving forward," Gray said. "He's our nominee. We're standing behind him."
Baumgardner, the attorney who challenged Wilson's candidacy, did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
Republicans, meanwhile, said that they would continue the legal battle to stop Wilson's candidacy.
"We believe today that the Pulaski County Circuit Court ruled in error regarding Jimmie Wilson's eligibility," said Doyle Webb, chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas, in a statement Wednesday. "He has been convicted of a federal crime, and though pardoned by President Bill Clinton, he is attempting now to run for office. The Arkansas Constitution provides that someone convicted of an infamous crime may not hold office."
Wilson, 74, pleaded guilty in 1991 to two misdemeanor counts of illegally selling mortgaged crops and converting government farm loans to his own use. He was sentenced to 4 ½ months in prison.
In 2016, voters approved an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution to make anyone convicted of a crime involving "deceit, fraud, or false statement," ineligible from holding public office.
Wilson has argued that the constitutional change cannot be applied retroactively to bar him from office. Alternatively, he has argued that he unknowingly violated the law and that his plea agreement excluded references to fraud or deceit.