Ferguson v. State, 2016 Ark. App. 4

JoBeth Ferguson pled guilty (Aug 2014) to possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia; fines and costs totaling $1,875 assessed and payment ordered at $50/month beginning Sept 2014.
Imprisonment for the paraphernalia count was suspended for five years; methamphetamine conviction placed on five years supervised probation with reporting and payment conditions.
State petitioned to revoke in Oct 2014, alleging Ferguson made no payments and failed to report to her probation officer as directed.
At the revocation hearing the State presented testimony that Ferguson made no payments and missed reporting dates; probation officer testified free public transportation was available.
Ferguson admitted nonpayment and failure to report, claimed unemployment, brief incarceration in Memphis, lack of transportation, and alleged frozen bank accounts (offered no documentation); court verified she spent less than two weeks in Memphis.
Trial court found her violations inexcusable and revoked probation/suspended sentence; appellate court affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether evidence supports revocation for inexcusable failure to pay and report	State: nonpayment and failure to report proven by testimony and records; defendant offered no credible excuse	Ferguson: lacked transportation, briefly incarcerated, unemployed, bank accounts frozen, and therefore excused from payments and reporting	Court: Affirmed — evidence supports finding violations were inexcusable; defendant’s admissions and lack of corroboration defeat her excuses

Peals v. State, 453 S.W.3d 151 (Ark. Ct. App. 2015) (once the State introduces evidence of nonpayment, burden shifts to defendant to produce a reasonable excuse, though the State retains ultimate burden of proving nonpayment was inexcusable)