Jonathan Martin Lawrence v. State of Arkansas , 2022 Ark. App. 468 ( 2022 )

Cite as 2022 Ark. App. 468ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS
DIVISION III
No. CR-22-287
Opinion Delivered November 16, 2022
JONATHAN MARTIN LAWRENCE
APPELLANT
APPEAL FROM THE DREW COUNTY
V. CIRCUIT COURT
[NO. 22CR-21-34]
STATE OF ARKANSAS
APPELLEE
HONORABLE ROBERT B. GIBSON
III, JUDGE
AFFIRMED
RITA W. GRUBER, Judge
Jonathan Martin Lawrence pleaded guilty in the Drew County Circuit Court to
possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class D felony. He was sentenced by a jury as a habitual
offender to fifteen years’ imprisonment. His sole point on appeal is that the circuit court
erred in overruling his objection to the State’s proffered jury instructions and verdict form.
We affirm.
Lawrence pleaded guilty to a crime he committed on December 8, 2020. After the
plea, the State presented a packet of information to the circuit court for the sentencing
hearing that included evidence of Lawrence’s previous five offenses and proposed jury
instructions. Because Lawrence was a habitual offender, he was subject to an enhanced
sentence pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-4-501(b) (Supp. 2021), which
authorizes a term of imprisonment of “not more than fifteen (15) years” for a habitual
offender convicted of a Class D felony. The State informed the court that the habitual-
offender statute had been amended from stating that a defendant “may be sentenced to pay
any fine authorized by law for the felony conviction and to an extended term of
imprisonment”—in this case, not more than fifteen years—to stating that a defendant “may
be sentenced to pay any fine authorized by law for the felony conviction and shall be sentenced
to an extended term of imprisonment.” Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-501(b)(1) (Repl. 2020) & (Supp.
2021) (emphasis added).1 The State argued that this statutory modification mandated prison
time. Lawrence contended that it did not mandate prison time, arguing that the jury could
still impose no prison time at all. The court agreed with the State and opined that the new
statute required the jury to impose at least one day of prison time.
The jury instructions given by the court that are relevant to this appeal include the
following:
The offense of possession of drug paraphernalia to inhale methamphetamine,
when committed by a habitual offender is punishable by imprisonment for a term of
not more than 15 years and a fine up to $10,000.
....
After hearing arguments of counsel, you will retire to consider and complete
the following verdict form. I have it with me, and it reads, We the jury fix the sentence
of Jonathan Lawrence at a term of – and there is a blank – in the Department of
Correction and a fine of – and there is a blank – and it needs to be signed by the
foreman. Underneath there it says “not more than 15 years,” so that is your range.
And if you choose a fine, it is not to exceed $10,000.
1
The amendment to the statute took effect on July 28, 2021.
2
The State did not mention the jury instructions or Lawrence’s possible sentence of
imprisonment in its closing argument except to recommend that the jury sentence Lawrence
to a minimum of six years’ imprisonment. Lawrence’s counsel stated in closing argument
that Lawrence faced a possible sentence of “up to 15 years” in prison and a fine of “up to
$10,000,” explaining that the jury could impose a term of imprisonment “for as little as one
day.” Counsel then argued,
Now, I’m not here to say that perhaps one day is a sufficient kind of sentence in this
type of case, but you can impose a sentence of one year, two years, three years. And
when you look at the specific charge, I think that is the range that I think would be
justifiable in this type of case given the circumstances of this case.
The jury’s completed verdict form, as signed by the jury foreman and sentencing
Lawrence to fifteen years’ imprisonment and no fine, is set out below.
On appeal, Lawrence contends that the court erred in overruling his objection to the
jury instructions and verdict form because the statute had not been amended at the time his
crime was committed and did not contain the word “shall.” He argues that the court failed
to allow the jury to consider the lawful possible verdict of no imprisonment.
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A party is entitled to a jury instruction when it is a correct statement of the law and
there is some basis in the evidence to support giving the instruction. Gould v. State, 2014
Ark. App. 543, at 5, 444 S.W.3d 408, 411. This court reviews a circuit court’s decision
regarding the use of jury instructions for abuse of discretion. Id. The jury instructions at issue
in this case involve Lawrence’s possible sentence of imprisonment. Sentencing in Arkansas
is entirely a matter of statute, Donaldson v. State, 370 Ark. 3, 7, 257 S.W.3d 74, 77 (2007),
and shall be in accordance with the statute in effect at the time of the commission of the
crime—here, December 2020. The State concedes that the circuit court erred by relying on
the amended version of Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-501(b) since it was not effective until July
2021, six months after Lawrence had committed his crime. However, the State contends that
there is no reversible error because the court correctly instructed the jury that the sentencing
range was “not more than 15 years.”
We turn to the relevant statute in effect at the time the crime in this case was
committed.
(b)(1) A defendant meeting the following criteria [includes a defendant convicted
of four or more felonies] may be sentenced to pay any fine authorized by law for the
felony conviction and to an extended term of imprisonment as set forth in
subdivision (b)(2) of this section[.]
...
(2) The extended term of imprisonment for a defendant described in subdivision
(b)(1) of this section is as follows:
...
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(E) For a conviction of a Class D felony, a term of imprisonment of not more
than fifteen (15) years.
Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-501 (Repl. 2020).
The statute specifically provides that a habitual offender who commits a Class D
felony may be sentenced to a term of imprisonment “of not more than fifteen (15) years,”
which is precisely what the jury instructions and the verdict form in this case provided. A
party is entitled to a jury instruction when it is a correct statement of the law and there is
some basis in the evidence to support giving the instruction. Gould, 2014 Ark. App. 543, at
5, 444 at S.W.3d at 411. Consequently, we hold that the circuit court’s instruction was
proper, and the court did not abuse its discretion in giving it. Moreover, Arkansas case law
provides that “up to” and “not more than” a particular number of years in the Arkansas
Department of Correction includes zero. See Donaldson, 370 Ark. at 8, 257 S.W.3d at 78;
Slaughter v. State, 69 Ark. App. 65, 12 S.W.3d 240 (2000). Furthermore, Lawrence did not
proffer an alternative instruction or verdict form, leaving us to speculate exactly what he
would have proposed instead. To preserve an objection to an instruction for appeal, an
appellant must proffer the proposed instruction to the circuit court and include it in the
record on appeal to enable this court to consider it. Sipes v. State, 2012 Ark. App. 261, at 9,
404 S.W.3d 164, 170.
Finally, even if we were to find that the court erred in giving the jury instruction,
Lawrence has not demonstrated that he was prejudiced, and absent a showing of prejudice,
we will not reverse. Hayes v. State, 2018 Ark. App. 158, at 3, 544 S.W.3d 587, 589. Lawrence
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argues that the jury did not understand it could have imposed a sentence of zero years’
imprisonment. Here, the instructions and verdict form authorized the jury to impose “no
more than fifteen years.” The jury imposed the maximum sentence of fifteen years. It strains
credulity to argue that the jury would have recommended zero years’ imprisonment had it
clearly been given this option. See Huggins v. State, 2021 Ark. App. 218, at 5, 624 S.W.3d
342, 345. One who is sentenced to the maximum applicable imprisonment cannot show
prejudice from an instruction that overstated the applicable minimum. See, e.g., Young v.
State, 287 Ark. 361, 363, 699 S.W.2d 398, 399 (1985); see also Ward v. State, 97 Ark. App.
294, 248 S.W.3d 489 (2007).
We hold that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in instructing the jury.
Affirmed.
KLAPPENBACH and BROWN, JJ., agree.
Potts Law Office, by: Gary W. Potts, for appellant.
Leslie Rutledge, Att’y Gen., by: Christian Harris, Ass’t Att’y Gen., for appellee.
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