Jordan v. State, 939 S.W.2d 255 (Ark. 1997)

Cases | Jordan v. State, 939 S.W.2d 255 (Ark. 1997) | 2018

The defendant entered a guilty plea to the crimes of residential burglary, theft of property, and two counts of theft by receiving.  He was placed on probation for five years, conditioned, in part, on the payment of $7,312.50 in restitution to the victim.  After three hearings to review the progress being made toward restitution, the defendant was returned to jail.  At a final hearing, the trial judge revoked the defendant’s probation for nonpayment of restitution.  The defendant appealed. The Supreme Court of Arkansas reversed and remanded, concluding that the trial court’s order revoking probation and sentencing the defendant to serve thirty-five (35) years in prison based on his failure to pay restitution did not meet the due process requirement of fundamental fairness.  The Court noted that there were no findings of fact upon which to base a judicial determination that the defendant’s failure to pay the restitution was a willful refusal to comply with the restitution order, rather than from an inability to pay.  The Court remanded for a determination of whether the defendant’s failure to pay reflected a willful refusal to comply with the restitution order, or simply the inability to pay.