Willis v. State

Our court rarely issues written opinions about decisions to deny petitions for rehearing. It is even more rare when nine judges are involved in this process; most rehearing petitions are reviewed and decided by the original three-judge panel that decided the case plus another three-judge panel. However, I am so convinced that our decision to deny rehearing in this instance is a mistaken departure from clear Arkansas law that I am obliged to write. We have denied rehearing in the instant appeal in the face of two statutes and at least one of our own decisions that contradict our original…