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APPEAL
FROM THE CRAIGHEAD COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, WESTERN DISTRICT
[NO. 16JJV-18-379], HONORABLE BARBARA HALSEY, JUDGE
Terry
Goodwin Jones, for appellant.
Leslie
Rutledge, Atty Gen., by: Michael Zangari, Asst Atty Gen.,
for appellee.
OPINION
BART F.
VIRDEN, Judge
BT
appeals the circuit courts determination of delinquency and
challenges the sufficiency of the evidence that he committed
residential burglary, theft of a firearm more than $2500,
theft of property, and possession of a handgun. We affirm.
I.
Relevant Facts
On
October 15, 2018, the State filed a petition alleging that BT
was a delinquent juvenile and asserted that on October 9, BT
committed the following offenses: (1) residential burglary,
Ark. Code Ann. § 5-39-201 (Repl. 2013); (2) theft of a
firearm more than $2500, Ark. Code Ann. § 5-36-103(b)(2)(C);
(3) minor in possession of a handgun, Ark. Code Ann. §
5-73-119 (Repl. 2016); and (4) theft of property, Ark. Code
Ann. § 5-36-103.
At the
hearing, captain Keith Carter and fire marshal Jason Wills of
the Jonesboro Fire Department testified. Wills explained that
he and Carter were investigating an arson that occurred on
October 8, 2018, on Harrisburg Road in Jonesboro. Wills
testified that on October 9, at around 1:45 p.m. while he and
Carter investigating the arson, he saw BT and two other boys,
GW and JS, walking south on Harrisburg Road. Wills and
Captain Carter got in the fire department vehicle and drove
toward the boys to speak to them, but boys had disappeared.
Wills testified that they drove up and down Harrisburg Road
and that Carter thought he saw someone standing on the back
deck of a home immediately south of the home where the arson
had occurred. Wills stated that around 2:35 p.m., the boys
reappeared, and he observed JS and GW walking north on
Harrisburg Road, and BT riding a hoverboard heading the same
direction. Wills testified that JS was carrying a blue duffle
bag, and GW was walking away from the other two. Wills
recalled that when he and Carter first saw the boys, they
"did not have anything on them." Wills testified
that they caught up to BT in a nearby church parking lot and
spoke to him about why he was not in school and asked him
"general questions." While they were talking to BT,
Wills and Carter noticed JS hiding behind a structure with
the blue duffle bag open beside him. JS was instructed to put
his hands on the wall, and Wills patted him down. Carter saw
that the blue duffle bag was unzipped and that there were
"multiple pistols" in it. Wills handcuffed JS, and
by this time BT had walked away. Wills testified that he had
not told BT he was not free to leave and that their
conversation had been cut short because he had turned his
attention to JS.
Detective Joe Robinson with the Jonesboro Police Department
testified that the fire marshals radioed in that they were
looking for three juveniles possibly connected with an arson
and a ...