Serandon Starling, Appellant v. State of Arkansas, Appellee

Summary

The court affirmed Starling’s convictions for first-degree murder and committing a terroristic act and granted appointed counsel’s motion to withdraw under the no-merit appellate procedure. It held that substantial evidence supported the convictions, that the evidence did not provide a rational basis for a reckless-manslaughter instruction, and that the circuit court properly limited evidence concerning the victim’s unrelated drug activity. The court also declined to consider an unpreserved sufficiency theory and an unrequested extreme-emotional-disturbance-manslaughter instruction. Justice Hart, joined by Justice Baker, dissented, concluding that counsel should not have been permitted to withdraw because the proposed appellate arguments were not wholly frivolous.