McDonald v. State

George Rose Smith, Justice.

This is a postconviction petition under Criminal Procedure Rule 1. In 1967 the appellant McDonald was charged with first degree murder in the shooting of a Little Rock police officer. McDonald, represented by three retained attorneys, entered a negotiated plea of guilty, the prosecutor having waived the death penalty. A jury, empaneled pursuant to Ark. Stat. Ann. § 43-2152 (Repl. 1964), fixed McDonald’s punishment at life imprisonment.

Almost seven years later McDonald filed the present petition, asserting that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel. At…