Airsman v. State

hln 2013, appellant Don Airsman, Jr. was found guilty by a Hempstead County jury of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. This court affirmed. Airsman v. State, 2014 Ark. 500, 451 S.W.3d 565.

Airsman subsequently filed a verified, pro se petition for postconviction relief pursuant to Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37.1 (2015) in the trial court. He raised four claims for relief. First, he claimed that a juror, who failed to disclose his inappropriate contact with six deputies and Airsman, should have been removed from the jury and replaced with one of the alternate…