Jacqueline Ferguson, Appellant v. State of Arkansas, Appellee

Summary

The court held that the circuit judge abused her discretion by refusing to recuse from Ferguson's criminal trial after previously presiding over a dependency-neglect proceeding involving the same alleged child abuse and substantially the same evidence. Because the judge's impartiality could reasonably be questioned under the mandatory disqualification rule, the court reversed the conviction and remanded for a new trial before a different judge. The court did not reach the separate challenge to denial of Ferguson's jury-trial waiver because that issue was unlikely to recur. Chief Justice Brill concurred in the result and elaborated on the meaning of "matter," while Justice Danielson, joined by Justices Goodson and Wood, would have affirmed because Ferguson failed to prove bias or prejudice.