Pyles v. State
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Cite as 2010 Ark. App. 577
ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS
DIVISION IV
CACR10-114
No.
Opinion Delivered
RICHARD LEE PYLES
APPELLANT
V.
STATE OF ARKANSAS
September 8, 2010
APPEAL FROM THE SEBASTIAN
COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
[NO. G-CR-2006-72; G-CR-2008-25]
HONORABLE STEPHEN TABOR,
JUDGE
APPELLEE
AFFIRMED
JOHN MAUZY PITTMAN, Judge
Appellant pleaded guilty in February 2007 to sexual assault. Imposition of sentence
was suspended for five years. In February 2008, appellant pleaded guilty to failing to observe
his reporting requirements as a sex offender, and he was sentenced to two years’
imprisonment with imposition of any additional sentence suspended for a period of four years.
These suspensions were conditioned, inter alia, on the requirement that appellant violate no
federal, state, or municipal law. In September 2009, the State filed a petition to revoke
appellant’s suspensions, asserting that he violated the conditions thereof by committing thirddegree domestic battery. After a hearing, appellant was found to have violated the conditions
of his suspensions by committing domestic battery, and he was sentenced to three years’
imprisonment for each of his prior convictions, to run concurrently. On appeal, he argues
that the evidence is insufficient to show that he violated the conditions of his suspended
Cite as 2010 Ark. App. 577
sentences by committing domestic battery. We affirm.
In order to revoke a suspension or probation, the trial court must find by a
preponderance of the evidence that the defendant inexcusably violated a condition of that
suspension or probation. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-309(d) (Repl. 2006). On appeal from an
order of revocation, the appellant bears the burden of showing that the trial court’s findings
are clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. Peterson v. State, 81 Ark. App. 226, 100
S.W.3d 66 (2003). In deciding whether appellant has met this burden, we defer to the trial
court’s superior opportunity to assess the credibility of the witnesses. Id.
It is undisputed that appellant and the victim, Josie Peterson, had been married in 2006
and subsequently divorced, but were in a romantic relationship at the time of the alleged
domestic battery in July 2009. Police were summoned and found Ms. Peterson agitated and
upset, as if she had been in an altercation, and she reported at that time that appellant had
choked her. Appellant reported that Ms. Peterson had in fact attacked him. The investigating
officer noticed red marks on Ms. Peterson’s neck but saw no marks on appellant to
substantiate his claim.
At the hearing, Ms. Peterson testified that, although appellant did choke her during
the incident, he did so inadvertently while pushing her away after she struck him in the face
with her fist. She stated that she struck appellant because appellant took the cell phone off
the charger. On cross-examination, Ms. Peterson said that she believed on the night of the
incident that appellant intentionally choked her, but that she now believed that he was merely
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CACR10-114
Cite as 2010 Ark. App. 577
pushing her away. She admitted that she and appellant had reconciled since the incident and
in fact had remarried the day before the revocation hearing. She also admitted that she did
not tell the investigating officer that she had hit appellant first in her statement on the night
of the incident.
The statements given by Ms. Peterson at the time of the incident and at the time of
the hearing were largely contradictory, and the issue turns on the credibility of her testimony
at trial. In light of the trial court’s superior opportunity to assess the credibility of witnesses,
we cannot say that the trial judge clearly erred in finding that appellant committed domestic
battery in violation of the conditions of his suspended sentences.
Affirmed.
ROBBINS and KINARD, JJ., agree.
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CACR10-114
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