Bates v. State, 2017 Ark. App. 123

Bates appeals his bench-trial conviction for third-degree domestic battering in Poinsett County.
Victim Karen Goans testified she lived with Bates for about eleven years prior to January 2016 incident.
Goans admitted hospitalization but claimed injuries were not Bates's fault; she said pills caused health issues.
Jamie Lewis, Goans's daughter, testified Goans woke from a coma and stated, ‘George did this to me,’ indicating Bates injured her.
Trial court admitted part of Jamie’s testimony as an excited utterance; other portions were excluded.
Court held jurisdiction was proper and Bates was guilty; he received six months in jail plus six months SIS with no contact and anger management.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence	Bates	Bates	Supported by substantial evidence
Jurisdiction/venue	Bates	Bates	Jurisdiction affirmed; no affirmative evidence of lack
Admission of Jamie’s excited utterance	Bates	Bates	Court did not abuse discretion; excited utterance admissible

Dix v. State, 290 Ark. 28 (1986) (state need not prove jurisdiction unless evidence shows lack)
Cates v. State, 329 Ark. 585 (1997) (presumption of jurisdiction when charge filed; proof of venue not required absent negative evidence)
Smith v. State, 367 Ark. 274 (2006) (reiterates standard for proving jurisdiction/venue)
Findley v. State, 307 Ark. 53 (1991) (jurisdiction/venue analysis in absence of affirmative outside evidence)
DeWitt v. State, 306 Ark. 559 (1991) (jurisdiction/venue framework applied)
Lewis v. State, 2016 Ark. App. 257 (2016) (treatment of venue/jurisdiction in appeal; admissibility considerations noted)
Eichelberger v. State, 323 Ark. 551 (1996) (standard for sufficiency of evidence review)
Lowe v. State, 2016 Ark. App. 389 (2016) (trier of fact may resolve conflicting testimony)
Pennington v. State, Ark. App. 70 (1988) (excited utterance admissibility is not tied to minutes/hours)