Simmons v. State

I would reach the merits of this appeal and reverse and remand because the trial court erred in refusing to suppress the marijuana found in this illegal search. The majority has dismissed this appeal because they believe that Tracy Simmons has failed to strictly comply with the rule governing conditional guilty pleas, Ark. R. Crim. P. 24.3.1 They impose this draconian penalty simply because Simmons’s attorney and the prosecutor used a preprinted form, not specifically designed for memorializing a defendant’s conditional plea, and entered hand-written notations to indicate that the plea was…