Ruiz v. State

Steele Hays, Justice.

Appellants were first convicted in Logan Circuit Court of crimes of capital murder in the June 29, 1977, robbery, kidnapping and shooting deaths of Marvin Ritchie and Opal James. The jury returned death sentences. On appeal, we reversed the trial court’s denial of motions for a change of venue, pointing to the oppressive and unprecedented pre-trial publicity surrounding the crimes. Ruiz & Van Denton v. State, 265 Ark. 875, 582 S.W. 2d 915 (1979). On remand, the case was transferred to the Conway Circuit Court, the most distant in that judicial district. In the second…