Strickland v. State

I concur with the result reached in the majority opinion. This concurring opinion is written to state the reasons I would amend A.R.Cr.P Rule 36.21 to require that a defendant state to the trial court the missing evidence in a motion for acquittal based on insufficiency of the evidence. Debate over use of the term “directed verdict” in a bench trial does not join the issue: The issue is whether specific grounds must be stated at trial in order to preserve an argument for appeal about sufficiency of the evidence, no matter what the motion is labeled.

This court repeatedly has taken the position…