Rehearing Denied May 08, 2019
Page 736
APPEAL
FROM THE HEMPSTEAD COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 29CR-15-112],
HONORABLE DUNCAN CULPEPPER, JUDGE
Benca &
Benca, Little Rock, by: Patrick J. Benca, for appellant.
Leslie
Rutledge, Atty Gen., by: Adam Jackson, Asst Atty Gen., for
appellee.
OPINION
MIKE
MURPHY, Judge
Appellant James Pafford appeals from an order of the
Hempstead County Circuit Court denying his petition for
postconviction relief filed pursuant to Arkansas Rule of
Criminal Procedure 37.1. For reversal, he contends that the
circuit court erred by denying him an evidentiary hearing on
his Rule 37 petition. We affirm.
I.
Relevant History
We
explained the incident that led to the underlying charges in
Pafford v. State, 2017 Ark.App. 700, at 2, 537
S.W.3d 302, 305:
Pafford sexually abused then twelve-year-old M.W. on two
occasions in February 2015. Both encounters took place at
Paffords home. M.W. confided in his grandmother and a
child-abuse-hotline call was made. Because M.W. lived
primarily in the same home as Pafford, the call was of high
priority and M.W. was immediately interviewed. From there,
the investigation continued and was handed over to the state
police. Pafford was charged with two counts of rape and two
counts of sexual assault in the second degree. On February 9,
2016, the case proceeded to a jury trial.
A
Hempstead County Circuit Court jury convicted Pafford of two
counts of rape and two counts of second-degree sexual
assault. He was sentenced to twenty-five years imprisonment
in the Arkansas Department of Correction on each rape
conviction, to run consecutively to each other, and five
years imprisonment on each sexual-assault conviction, to run
concurrently with the rape convictions. Pafford,
supra. On direct appeal, Pafford argued four points: (1)
jury misconduct prejudiced his chances for a fair trial; (2)
the circuit court erred in allowing expert testimony
concerning the truthfulness of the victims statements; (3)
the circuit court erred in allowing a photo of Paffords
erect penis into evidence; and (4) the circuit court erred in
not granting his new trial based
Page 737
on ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims.[1] This court
affirmed the convictions on December 13, 2017, and denied the
petition for rehearing on January 31, 2018. Pafford sought
review from the Arkansas Supreme Court, which was denied on
March 29, 2018.
On May
25, 2018, Pafford filed a verified petition for
postconviction relief pursuant to Arkansas Rule of Criminal
Procedure 37.1. He raised one claim of ineffective assistance
of counsel premised on counsels failure to move to quash the
selected jury and failure to move for a mistrial when the
circuit court allegedly excluded Paffords family from the
courtroom during voir dire. Pafford argued that this deprived
him of his constitutional right to a public trial. On July
16, 2018, without holding an evidentiary hearing, the circuit
court denied Paffords petition in a four-page order. The
circuit court denied relief, finding that Paffords petition
did not comply ...