Oliver v. State

As criminal appeals go, this one is relatively simple. Rule 33.3 of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure and the case of Parker v. State, 270 Ark. 897, 606 S.W.2d 746 (1980), control the facts of this cause. I submit the special circuit judge’s failure to follow Rule 33.3 as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Parker is clearly reversible error.

The judge’s error concerns his failure to deliver typewritten instructions to the jury. Rule 33.3, in pertinent part, provides that upon request of counsel for any party, it shall be the duty df the presiding judge to deliver to the jury…