Not Horsing Around
The Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct ordered a 36-month suspension of an attorney who neglected a client’s criminal appeal petition.
Magnolia Reporter.com reported on the client’s case involving the theft of five horses from Southern Arkansas University
[The jury] found Cox guilty of four counts of theft of property between $5,000 and $25,000 involving three horses and a horse trailer, two counts of theft of property more than $25,000 for two of the horses, and two counts of theft of property between $1,000 and $5,000, involving horse tack.
Testimony from the student victims during the sentencing phase of the trial had some members of the audience and jury in tears. The most powerful testimony came when Shaun Smith, whose horse, Credit Card, was slaughtered, described the impact on the animal he described as his “teammate.”
On Tuesday, jurors heard about the mistreatment of four horses and the death of a fifth during the theft trial of Cox, 38, of Howorth, Oklahoma.
Cox is the first person to go on trial in Arkansas for the Nov. 3, 2011 theft from Southern Arkansas University’s Mulerider Stables. The emaciated condition of the four rodeo-competition horses that were found tied to trees almost two weeks after their abduction, and the slaughter of student Shaun Smith’s horse, Credit Card, enraged horse fanciers across the nation.
Cox is charged with four counts of theft of property worth less than $5,000, and two counts of theft of property of more than $5,000. Butler said that if convicted of the maximum on all counts, Cox could be sentenced to up to 92 years in prison.
The Cox trial was moved to Union County on change of venue from Columbia County.
Butler, through the testimony of state witnesses, laid out for the jury of nine women and three men a story that painted Cox – the mother of former SAU student Jaci Jackson – as a woman who manipulated others to get what she wanted.
Apparently manipulated the most was William “Billy” Hamilton, who testified that he was Cox’s boyfriend. Hamilton admitted stealing cattle in Little River County and using most of the proceeds to purchase an engagement ring. He also admitted driving to Magnolia to steal the horses owned by Smith, Ashley Mills, Ty Lester, Hope Shelton and D.J. Dickinson, with the intent of reselling them.
But according to testimony, the plan to profit from the crime committed in the early hours of Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011 began to fall apart by 10 a.m. when Cox’s youngest daughter, Jade Jackson, told her that she recognized the still-living Credit Card from the region’s tight-knit rodeo circuit – making the horse in her mother’s mind too hot to sell and too obvious to keep alive. With McCurtain County, Oklahoma sheriff’s deputies already poking around, Cox, Hamilton and Jaci Jackson looked for means to hide or and move the horses and other evidence away from Cox’s property with little success.
It also spelled Credit Card’s doom.
It appears that the suspension only prohibits the attorney from handling appeals as he is
SUSPENDED from the practice of appellate law before the Arkansas Appellate Courts for a period of THIRTY-SIX (36) MONTHS for his conduct in this matter. Further, Mr. Kearney shall complete an approved course of instruction on Arkansas appellate practice. Mr. Kearney shall notify current and future clients of his suspension from appellate practice.
His prior discipline was a factor. (Mike Frisch)