Cases | State v. Holmes, 66 S.W.3d 640 (Ark. 2002) | 2018
The defendant was convicted of two counts of theft of property, and sentenced to ten years’ incarceration with five years suspended on the condition that he pay restitution to the victims. Thereafter, the defendant moved to set aside the verdict, or for a new trial, and included a stipulation that he would pay full restitution to the victims if his motion was granted. The State responded and requested a hearing, but the trial court granted the defendant’s motion without a hearing and accepted the defendant’s stipulation to provide his cash bond as restitution. The State appealed, and the Supreme Court of Arkansas reversed and remanded. The Court concluded that the trial court erred in granting the defendant’s post-trial motion because the defendant had waived any question pertaining to the sufficiency of the evidence when he failed to make a motion for a directed verdict at the close of all the evidence. Since the defendant had not complied with the state’s rules of criminal procedure, it was improper for the trial court to grant the defendant’s post-trial motion. The Court reversed and remanded with instructions to reinstate the defendant’s convictions and sentence.