# Boone v. State

> Supreme Court of Arkansas · April 30, 1984 · 282 Ark. 274

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9764370

## Case

- **Full name:** Kathy Pearson BOONE v. STATE of Arkansas
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Arkansas
- **Decided:** April 30, 1984
- **Citations:** 282 Ark. 274; 668 S.W.2d 17; 1984 Ark. LEXIS 1633
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Hickman
- **Judges:** Adkisson, Hickman, Purtle, Hollingsworth
- **Cited by:** 44 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9764370

## Opinion text

Darrell Hickman, Justice, dissenting. We have, in my judgment, at times distorted the rule requiring substantial evidence, or corroborative evidence of a accomplice’s testimony beyond credibility. See Cassell v. State, 273 Ark. 59 , 616 S.W.2d 485 (1981).
In this case a mother was convicted of the second degree murder of her child. The only substantial evidence of her guilt is that she had custody and control over the child during a period of time in which the child was undoubtedly severely abused. We are supposed to, if we can, block from our minds a statement the child made the day he died to one of his grandparents that “Steve beat me last night.” That evidence was inadmissible and was not considered by the jury. A doctor testified that the child could be diagnosed as suffering from the “battered child syndrome.” Where is there other evidence that this woman knowingly killed her child under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life or that she was an accomplice to such a crime?
I could support a conviction of negligent homicide, but not second degree murder. The state simply sought and obtained a conviction for a higher degree of guilt than that supported by the evidence.
I would reverse and dismiss.
Purtle, J., and Hollingsworth, J., join.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9764370. Public record. Not legal advice.