Hartman v. State, 2015 Ark. 30

Victim (E.R.), age nine, reported that her stepfather, Samuel Hartman, touched and penetrated her; mother took E.R. for a forensic interview, leading to a police response after a domestic disturbance.
At the police station Officer Jonathan Little recorded an interview in which Hartman allegedly confessed; Little stopped the recording to let Hartman make a phone call and later observed additional files on the recorder and that the confession file was missing.
Two subsequent audio files (played at trial) suggested extra recordings after the alleged confession; Little did not testify that he had listened to the confession recording before discovering it missing.
A jury convicted Hartman of rape and tampering with physical evidence; he received life for rape and six years for tampering (concurrent).
Hartman appealed, arguing insufficient evidence for both convictions, that a juror with ties to the victim’s family should have been removed, and that the court should have given a lesser-included-offense instruction for second-degree sexual assault.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Hartman)	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for rape	State relied on victim testimony and confession to support conviction	Hartman argued inconsistencies in victim statements, motive to lie, and lack of physical findings	Affirmed — Hartman failed to preserve specific sufficiency challenges in directed-verdict motions; conviction stands
Sufficiency of evidence for tampering with physical evidence	State argued missing confession file and extra recordings supported deletion by Hartman	Hartman argued there was no proof he touched the recorder and device malfunction was possible	Reversed and dismissed — conviction not supported because evidence required speculation and did not exclude reasonable alternative (malfunction)
Juror impartiality / removal	State implicitly maintained trial was fair; no prejudice shown	Hartman argued a juror had ties to victim’s family and should have been removed	Not reached on merits — waived because defense never formally moved to remove juror at trial
Lesser-included-offense instruction (second-degree sexual assault)	State opposed instruction; maintained rape is distinct	Hartman sought second-degree sexual assault instruction as lesser-included offense	Denied — court followed precedent that second-degree sexual assault is not a lesser-included offense of rape (requires different elements); refusal was not error

Pinell v. State, 364 Ark. 353, 219 S.W.3d 168 (preservation and specificity required for directed-verdict motions)
Williamson v. State, 2009 Ark. 568, 350 S.W.3d 787 (preservation of sufficiency arguments)
Whitt v. State, 365 Ark. 580, 232 S.W.3d 459 (directed-verdict treated as sufficiency challenge)
Gillard v. State, 366 Ark. 217, 234 S.W.3d 310 (standard of review for sufficiency: view evidence in light most favorable to State)
Green v. State, 2013 Ark. 497, 430 S.W.3d 729 (definition of substantial evidence)
Thornton v. State, 2014 Ark. 157, 433 S.W.3d 216 (circumstantial evidence may be substantial but must exclude reasonable alternative hypotheses)
Murry v. State, 276 Ark. 372, 635 S.W.2d 237 (circumstantial evidence and jury determination on competing hypotheses)
Joyner v. State, 2009 Ark. 168, 303 S.W.3d 54 (holding that second-degree sexual assault is not a lesser-included offense of rape)
Webb v. State, 2012 Ark. 64 (same precedent on lesser-included instruction)
Brown v. State, 321 Ark. 413, 903 S.W.2d 160 (stare decisis and adherence to precedent)