A Pine Bluff man convicted of murder in 2008 failed to convince the Arkansas Supreme Court that a Jefferson County Circuit judge was wrong when she denied claims that his lawyer was ineffective.
Rickey Strain Jr., then 23, and Walter Sims, then 28, were convicted of first-degree murder in the Sept. 6, 2005, shooting death of Wade Miller, 41.
Miller was found shot to death in the front yard of a house in the 1100 block of Florida Street and taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound to the back.
Strain was sentenced to 25 years in prison and Sims to 50 years. Both convictions were upheld by the Supreme Court in 2009.
Following that ruling, Strain filed a motion claiming that his attorney was ineffective and that motion was denied by Circuit Judge Jodi Raines Dennis, who presided at the original trial.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Strain then appealed Dennis’ ruling, arguing that his attorney failed to properly ask for a directed verdict because he did not specify what evidence was insufficient or what element of the murder Strain was accused of that the state had failed to prove.
According to the appeal, had Strain’s attorney been more specific, for example pointing out that there were no witnesses testifying they saw Strain fire a gun, and that one of the witnesses was a “crack addict,” the circuit court would have dismissed the case or reduced the charges, and if not, a higher court would have reversed the decision and dismissed the case.
The appeals court ruling said the convictions of Strain and Sims were supported by evidence that showed the two were seen driving through the area shortly before the murder, that one witness had bought cocaine from the two, and the same witness spotted the same two people that he had met just prior to this “kicking the crap out of someone,” and then he saw a shooting.
A second witness placed Sims and Strain at the scene and near Miller when he was shot.
Strain also contended that his attorney should have asked to be tried separately from Sims, and there was a reasonable probability that he would have been acquitted if that had happened. That claim was based on the fact that Strain had no prior criminal history while Sims did, and the evidence was stronger against Sims.
The Appeals Court ruling said there was no evidence to support that claim, and said “we are not persuaded by (Strain’s) conclusory allegation that, had the trials been severed, there is a reasonable possibility that he would have been acquitted.”
Both Strain and Sims have to serve 70 percent of their sentences before being eligible to apply for parole.