Hinton v. State, 572 S.W.3d 381

Kenneth Hinton was convicted after a prison-yard disturbance of one count of first-degree battery (30 years) and one count of second-degree battery (15 years); convictions were affirmed on direct appeal.
The assaults at the Varner Unit (Oct. 28, 2012) involved injuries to Warden Joe Page and Lt. Stephen Simmons; guards identified Hinton in video/stills as the assailant.
Hinton filed a timely Rule 37 petition alleging trial counsel (Jason Files) was ineffective for failing to investigate and call five inmate alibi witnesses who would have placed Hinton in a barracks two units away.
At the Rule 37 hearing, the five inmates testified they were not contacted by Files and would have testified Hinton was not present; Files testified he contacted counsel for three other potential witnesses who said their clients would commit perjury if they denied Hinton’s presence, and he elected not to call inmate witnesses as a trial strategy.
The circuit court denied relief, finding counsel’s decision not to call the inmates was reasonable trial strategy and that Hinton failed to show deficient performance under Strickland.
The Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed, holding counsel’s choices fell within reasonable professional judgment and were strategic decisions outside Rule 37 relief scope; a dissent argued counsel did no reasonable investigation and disregarded the client’s chosen defense.

Issue	Hinton's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Whether counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate/call inmate alibi witnesses	Files failed to investigate and ignored five alibi witnesses Hinton requested; this was objectively unreasonable and deprived Hinton of effective assistance	Files made a reasonable strategic decision not to call inmates (credibility risk, criminal histories, prior counsel warned of perjury); decision falls within trial strategy	Court held counsel's performance was not deficient; decision was reasonable trial strategy and outside Rule 37 relief

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (standard for ineffective-assistance claims: performance and prejudice prongs)
Williams v. State, 369 Ark. 104 (applying Strickland standard in Arkansas)
Hinton v. State, 515 S.W.3d 121 (prior direct-appeal decision affirming convictions)