Supreme Court of Arkansas
Matthew Armstrong v. State of Arkansas
October 8, 2020607 S.W.3d 491
Summary
The court affirmed Armstrong’s convictions for first-degree murder, first-degree escape, and employing a firearm during the murder. It held that substantial circumstantial evidence supported a finding of purposeful intent, that Armstrong’s challenge to representation by an attorney whose license had briefly been suspended was unpreserved, that the defense theory provided no rational basis for lesser-included-offense instructions, and that the proffered text messages were not sufficiently authenticated. No separate opinion is included in the requested record.