Gilland v. State

Steele Hays, Justice.

Appellant Sam Houston Gilland was sentenced to forty years in the Arkansas Department of Correction following his conviction for first degree murder. On appeal, he argues two points for reversal: (1) the prosecution unconstitutionally used its peremptory strikes to exclude black males from the petit jury and (2) the trial court unduly restricted the closing argument for the defense. Finding no error we affirm.

Since the sufficiency of the evidence is not disputed, no extensive recitation of the facts is necessary. Gilland and the victim got into an altercation at a Little…