Stigger v. State
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Cite as 2009 Ark. App. 596
ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS
DIVISION IV
No. CACR 09-194
AARON MARCUS STIGGER
APPELLANT
Opinion Delivered September 16, 2009
V.
APPEAL FROM THE CLEVELAND
COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT,
[NO. CR08-17-5]
STATE OF ARKANSAS
HONORABLE LARRY W.
CHANDLER, JUDGE
APPELLEE
AFFIRMED
COURTNEY HUDSON HENRY, Judge
A jury in Cleveland County found appellant Aaron Marcus Stigger guilty of residential
burglary and theft of property, for which he received consecutive five-year sentences for a total
of ten years in prison. For reversal, appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, and he
argues that the trial court erred by refusing a proffered jury instruction and by ordering
consecutive sentences. We affirm.
Evidence at trial disclosed that someone burglarized the home of Myra and Kent
Rhinehart while they were at work on December 10, 2007. Taken in the burglary were
twenty-two firearms and a jewelry box. The stolen items included a Mossberg .410-gauge
shotgun and an amethyst pendant. Appellant pawned those two items at the Money Corner
Pawn Shop in Pine Bluff. Based on this information, the police arrested appellant.
Cite as 2009 Ark. App. 596
Deputy Gary Young interviewed appellant following his arrest. Appellant told Deputy
Young that he purchased the shotgun from a man named Jason at Robinson’s Auction Barn.
Young was familiar with the auction barn and advised appellant that his account was not
plausible because the auction barn was open only on Saturdays, whereas the burglary occurred
on a Monday and appellant pawned the gun the following Friday. Appellant then stated that
he bought the gun from Jason at a car wash on a Wednesday and said that he invented the
other story because it “sounded better.”
Michael Gosnell, who was in the county jail at the same time as appellant, testified on
behalf of the State. Gosnell stated that appellant admitted that he participated in the Rhinehart
burglary and theft.
Appellant testified that he was at work on the day of the burglary and that he did not
break into the Rhineharts’ home. He maintained that he purchased the gun and jewelry from
a man he knew only as Jason and stated that he did not know that the items were stolen.
Appellant also said that he was highly intoxicated and under pressure during the interview with
Deputy Young.
Justin Robinson, another inmate at the jail, testified that Gosnell told Robinson that
Deputy Young forced Gosnell to testify against appellant. Appellant’s mother, Norma Jean
Stigger, stated that she took appellant to work the day of the burglary. She further testified that
she spoke with Gosnell on April 9, 2008, while visiting appellant at the jail and that Gosnell
told her that he did not implicate appellant in the burglary and theft in any statement given to
the deputy and that the police were forcing him to do so. In rebuttal, Deputy Young testified
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that Gosnell was transferred to the department of correction on March 26, 2008, and thus was
not housed in the county jail on April 9, 2008.
Appellant contends that there is insufficient evidence that he burglarized the Rhineharts’
home and stole their property. He argues that, while he was in possession of items taken from
the Rhineharts’ home, he was at work when the burglary occurred and purchased the stolen
property afterward. He asserts that only the testimony of Gosnell implicates him as a participant
in the burglary and theft and that the jury’s verdict is based on speculation and conjecture when
Gosnell’s testimony is weighed against the counterveiling evidence.
The test for determining the sufficiency of the evidence is whether the verdict is
supported by substantial evidence. Henson v. State, 2009 Ark. App. 464, 2009 WL 1544272.
Substantial evidence is evidence forceful enough to reach a conclusion one way or the other
beyond speculation or conjecture. Smith v. State, 352 Ark. 92, 98 S.W.3d 433 (2003). When
a defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence convicting him, the evidence is viewed
in the light most favorable to the State, and only evidence supporting the verdict will be
considered.
The record reflects that appellant pawned a gun and a pendant that were stolen from the
Rhineharts’ home. According to Gosnell, appellant admitted that he participated in the
burglary and theft. Although appellant suggests that Gosnell’s testimony was not truthful in
light of opposing testimony appellant offered at trial, on appeal we do not weigh the evidence,
nor do we weigh the credibility of the witnesses. Polk v. State, 82 Ark. App. 210, 105 S.W.3d
797 (2003). Also, the jury was entitled to consider and give weight to any false, improbable,
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and contradictory statements made by a defendant to explain suspicious circumstances. Ewing
v. State, 85 Ark. App. 411, 155 S.W.3d 715 (2004). We hold that substantial evidence supports
appellant’s convictions.
Appellant’s next argument is that the trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury that
it could recommend probation. Arkansas Code Annotated section 16-97-101(4) (Repl. 2006)
authorizes a trial court to instruct the jury on alternative sentences for which the defendant may
qualify.
Under the statute, the jury may recommend an alternative sentence, but the
recommendation is not binding on the trial court. The actual assessment of probation is a
matter that lies exclusively within the discretion of the trial court. Higgins v. State, 326 Ark.
1030, 936 S.W.2d 740 (1996).
With regard to a trial court’s decision on whether to instruct the jury on alternative
sentencing, the tone of the statute is distinctly permissive. See Dale v. State, 55 Ark. App. 184,
935 S.W.2d 274 (1996). Because the permissive language of the statute does not require a trial
court to give an instruction on alternative sentencing, we conclude that the trial court
committed no error in declining appellant’s request for an instruction recommending
probation. Moreover, even if the jury was so instructed, the trial court had the discretion to
reject the jury’s recommendation for probation. The trial court did not believe that an
alternative sentence was appropriate under the facts of this case. We perceive no abuse of
discretion in the trial court’s decision.
Appellant’s final argument is that the trial court erred by imposing consecutive
sentences. He contends that the trial court abused its discretion because the jury did not
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recommend that he serve his sentences consecutively. A trial court is not bound by a jury’s
sentencing recommendation, and a trial court is not required to explain its reason for running
sentences consecutively. Throneberry v. State, 102 Ark. App. 17, 279 S.W.3d 489 (2008). The
question of whether to impose consecutive or concurrent sentences lies solely within the
province of the trial court, and the appellant assumes a heavy burden of demonstrating that the
trial court failed to give due consideration to the exercise of its discretion. Pyle v. State, 340
Ark. 53, 8 S.W.3d 491 (2000). We will not presume that the trial court did not exercise its
discretion in ordering consecutive sentences unless there is some indication otherwise. Blagg
v. State, 72 Ark. App. 32, 31 S.W.3d 872 (2000).
We find no merit in appellant’s argument that the trial court abused its discretion by not
adhering to the recommendation of the jury to impose concurrent sentences. Notably, the jury
was not instructed on the issue of whether the sentences should be served concurrently or
consecutively. As a result, there was no actual recommendation in this case that the court
declined to follow. Moreover, even had the jury made a recommendation, it would not have
been binding on the trial court. The charges in this case involved a home invasion and the
theft of numerous firearms.
We cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion in
determining that consecutive sentences were warranted under these facts.
Affirmed.
G LADWIN and G LOVER, JJ., agree.
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