Long blames lawyer, seeks belated appeal
Posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/65385/
Dustin Long wore a darkstriped, white jail-issued jumpsuit on Monday while acting as his own attorney, seeking a late appeal of a 2007 conviction for seconddegree sexual abuse.
Long, 29, of Rogers blames Jim Rose III, his attorney during three trials, for failing to let him know that he had the right to appeal his conviction by a jury. Long was convicted during a third trial after two mistrials were declared after juries failed twice to agree on a verdict.
Long was sentenced to 12 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. Long testified Monday that he was offered a plea bargain that required him to serve three years, but he rejected the deal.
Long admitted Monday that he never asked Rose to appeal his conviction. He also claimed he is innocent of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old accuser.
“ The whole reason I am pursuing this is that I am innocent of these charges, ” Long said before the courtroom with nine of 10 apparent Long supporters wearing T-shirts that stated “ Justice for Dustin. ”
Long claims that he thought he had no right to appeal the judgment because Rose had him sign a letter stating that Rose did not handle appeals.
Long filed a petition with the Arkansas Supreme Court seeking a belated appeal of his conviction. The Supreme Court ordered a hearing before 4 th Judicial District Circuit Judge William Storey to take evidence and provide findings of fact on whether Long advised Rose of his desire to appeal within 30 days of the date the judgment was entered.
After the hearing, Rose was clearly frustrated with the proceeding.
“ No good deed ever goes unpunished, ” Rose said as he was preparing to exit the courtroom. “ The sad thing is that I still think he is not guilty. ”
Storey gave the parties two weeks to prepare proposed findings of fact and said he would rule on the matter promptly after he receives them.
Long said that while in prison he learned of a “ technical argument” that might be used to get an appeal after the filing deadline. He told Storey that another inmate helped him prepare the documents requesting a late appeal blaming his attorney.
Storey pointed out that he told Long during the sentencing phase of the trial that Long had the right to appeal his conviction.
Rose testified that Long told him after the trial that he had no plans to appeal his conviction.
“‘ Jim, I’m not going to appeal this. I just want to get it behind me, ’” Rose said Long told him after the jury returned the verdict.
Rose also testified that he had discussed Long’s appeal options at length with his wife, Joni Long, when she went by Rose’s office to pick up a copy of his file.
Joni Long testified that she did not talk to Rose when she went by his office. She said she talked to other attorneys about filing an appeal for her husband but never filed the appeal. She cited financial problems.
Kara Moore, one of those attorneys approached, testified that she told Joni Long that her husband’s odds of winning an appeal were slim and the legal costs would be expensive. Moore said she talked to Rose, who encouraged her to file an appeal if she saw merit in it.
“ Jim said if I found something, please go ahead and file it. He encouraged a Rule 37 be filed, ” Moore said.
Rule 37 refers to a routine appeal that claims ineffective council.
Joni Long confirmed that Rose told her after the trial not to worry about paying the remaining legal bill.
“ You’ve got enough to worry about. Forget paying me the rest of my fee, ” Rose testified that he told her after the trial.
Rose said his unpaid bill was more than $ 10, 000 and he knew the Longs would be unable to pay.