Last week, the Arkansas Court of Appeals issued a ruling in the case of a Mountain Home man seeking to overturn his conviction.
The court rejected 32-year-old Michael Strange’s argument and affirmed the 90-month aggregated sentence he received after a Baxter County Circuit Court jury found him guilty in late 2021.
Ironically, the ruling came about three months after Strange was released from prison where he had served less than a year of the sentence he was given.
Strange was released on 12-28-22, according to Arkansas Department of Correction records. He is shown as being on parole with his supervision assigned to the Mountain Home office of Arkansas Community Corrections.
His release came under provisions of the Emergency Powers Act. The act has been used for two decades to help manage the population in the chronically overcrowded state prison system.
There are a number of conditions a prisoner must meet before being released under the act, including that the inmate is 9-months-to-a-year away from the time of his “normal” release date.
TWO CHASES IN ONE NIGHT
Strange’s case involved two high speed chases in the early morning hours of January 17, 2020. In both encounters, Mountain Home police officers attempted to pull Strange over, but he hit the gas instead of the brake.
Officers reported speeds during the chases reached 80-100 miles-per-hour. The initial pursuit was called off because of the potential danger of chasing a driver at those speeds on city streets.
The second chase ended when Strange pulled into the driveway of residence along Marquis Drive – listed as his home address.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Strange got out of his vehicle and was heading toward the front door of his house until he was stopped.
STOLEN CAMERA FOUND
After he was taken into custody, officers searched his vehicle and located a small amount of methamphetamine and a black backpack containing a camera that had a small piece of a display case attached. Strange was reported to have become “adamant” that the backpack not be seized.
Officers did seize the backpack because of the strong possibility the camera had been stolen.
During the investigation, security cameras at Walmart were found to show that Strange had cut a security cord that attached the camera to a display at the store.
Strange is pictured leaving the area where cameras are sold and “sprinting” out of the Walmart building. When it was checked, the camera in Strange’s backpack proved to be the one stolen.
PLANTED EVIDENCE?
During Strange’s jury trial, Deputy Public Defender James Wallace suggested the amphetamine might have been planted by police.
He told the jury that police had been involved in two high speed chases with Strange the night of his arrest and “it would be reasonable to assume” that he had angered the officers and that they might have wanted to “stick it to him.”
During the trial, the officers involved denied any evidence was planted on Strange and said they were certain that none of the other officers at the scene would have been involved in evidence planting.
STRANGE CLAIMED STATE DID NOT PROVE CASE
In his appeal, Strange argued that police did not find a “usable” amount of amphetamine and, therefore, the state had not met its burden of proof.
The Court of Appeals rejected Strange’s argument there was not enough methamphetamine to prove the possession charge. In turning down Strange’s appeal, the court wrote that the quantity of the drug in Strange’s case was sufficient to be tested and weighed and that “the jury was free to believe or disbelieve that the amount was useable.”
An employee of the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory testified during the trial that the Methamphetamine in the case was both detectable and weighable.
The lab report was introduced as evidence without objection from the defense.
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