Phillips v. State

Cite as 2015 Ark. App. 138
ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS
DIVISION II
No. CR-14-499
LESTER PHILLIPS Opinion Delivered March 4, 2015
APPELLANT
APPEAL FROM THE JEFFERSON
V. COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
[NO. CR-12-379]
STATE OF ARKANSAS HONORABLE BERLIN C. JONES,
APPELLEE JUDGE
REMANDED TO SETTLE AND
SUPPLEMENT THE RECORD;
SUPPLEMENTATION OF THE
ADDENDUM ORDERED
RAYMOND R. ABRAMSON, Judge
On October 30, 2013, Lester Phillips was convicted by a Jefferson County jury of
murder in the second degree. He was sentenced as a habitual offender to forty years in the
Arkansas Department of Correction. On appeal, Phillips asserts that the trial court abused its
discretion when it denied his timely motion for a mistrial. We do not reach the merits of
Phillips’s argument because we must remand for the record to be settled and supplemented,
and we order supplementation of the addendum.
Although Phillips was found guilty of murder in the second degree, the jury-verdict
form reflecting his guilt is not included in the record. If anything material to either party is
omitted from the record by error or accident, this court can sua sponte direct that the
omission be corrected and that a supplemental record be certified and transmitted. Ark. R.
Cite as 2015 Ark. App. 138
App. P.–Civ.(6)(e) (as made applicable to criminal cases by Ark. R. App. P.–Crim.4(a)); see
Whitson v. State, 2013 Ark. App. 730. Accordingly, we remand this case to the circuit court
to settle and supplement the record. Phillips has thirty days from the date of this opinion to
file a supplemental record with this court.
Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(a)(8) requires the addendum to contain all documents in the
record that “are essential for the appellate court to confirm its jurisdiction, to understand the
case, and to decide the issues on appeal.” Specifically, the Rule states that, “in a case where
there is a jury trial, the jury’s verdict forms” must be included in the addendum. Ark. Sup.
Ct. R. 4-2(a)(8)(A)(i) (2014). Phillips has seven calendar days after the record is supplemented
to file a supplemental addendum. Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-2(b)(4). We strongly encourage counsel
to carefully review our rules, as well as the record and addendum, to ensure that no additional
deficiencies are present.
Remanded to settle and supplement the record; supplementation of the addendum
ordered.
HIXSON and HOOFMAN , JJ., agree.
Potts Law Office, by: Gary W. Potts, for appellant.
Dustin McDaniel, Att’y Gen., by: Valerie Glover Fortner, Ass’t Att’y Gen., for appellee.
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