Brown v. State, 2014 Ark. App. 612

Appellant Shareef Palmer Brown pleaded guilty (Oct 2010) to felony non-support of a minor and received 54 days incarceration (credit for time served) and a three-year suspended imposition of sentence.
In Dec 2012 the State petitioned to revoke the suspension, alleging Brown wilfully failed to pay child support and committed a new offense of failure to appear.
At the revocation hearing Brown testified he had been unemployed 14 months, had injured his back, lived with and helped his disabled mother, and intended to apply for SSDI but had not done so or been diagnosed; he offered no documentary corroboration.
The trial court found Brown wilfully failed to pay child support and revoked the suspended sentence; it also found he committed failure to appear.
On appeal Brown challenged the willfulness finding and argued his failure to appear was excusable; the Court of Appeals affirmed the revocation based on the willfulness finding.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Brown's failure to pay child support was willful for purposes of revoking suspension	State: evidence of nonpayment and absence of excuse supports willfulness	Brown: inability to work due to back injury and reliance on mother made nonpayment excusable	Held: Court affirmed; trial court’s finding of willfulness was not clearly against the preponderance of the evidence
Whether Brown's failure to appear was excusable	State: constituted a separate violation supporting revocation	Brown: argued the failure to appear was excusable	Held: Court did not need to decide because one proven violation (nonpayment) sufficed to revoke suspension

Richardson v. State, 85 Ark. App. 347 (2004) (deference to trial judge on credibility and weight of testimony)
Jordan v. State, 327 Ark. 117 (1997) (failure to seek employment or bona fide efforts to borrow can show willfulness for nonpayment)
Gossett v. State, 87 Ark. App. 317 (2004) (same principle: lack of effort to obtain funds supports willfulness finding)