Torry Rodgers v. Arkansas Parole Board; John Felts

Summary

The court held that Rodgers’s declaratory and mandamus claims were an appropriate means to challenge the allegedly unlawful calculation of his parole-eligibility date and presented a ripe controversy. Applying the plain language of Act 683, the court concluded that Rodgers’s sentencing order did not expressly designate that he was sentenced under the applicable parole statute, so his prior residential-burglary conviction could not be treated as a violent felony for parole purposes. The court reversed the judgment on the pleadings and remanded.