Sales v. State, 2014 Ark. 384

Appellant Derek Sales was convicted of capital murder and aggravated robbery for the 2005 York killing; sentenced to death and life imprisonment respectively; direct appeal affirmed the convictions and sentences.
On remand from this Court, the Bradley County circuit court reconsidered Rule 37.5 postconviction claims alleging ineffective assistance of counsel.
Two alleged deficient acts were raised: (a) during sentencing, defense counsel suggested a possible governor pardon for life-without-parole; (b) during opening statements, counsel referred to Sales’s jail escape.
The circuit court found the parole remark fell below professional standards but was a correct statement of the law, and that the escape reference was unnecessary and prejudicial only if it affected prejudice; it denied relief.
The Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed, applying Strickland’s prejudice and deficient-performance analysis, and held no prejudice established either in guilt or penalty phases by the challenged remarks.
The court noted that clear, strong evidence of guilt and multiple aggravators rendered any alleged error ineffective, and that admission of additional convictions as aggravators could have occurred even without the challenged statements.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether trial counsel’s life-without-parole pardon remark was prejudicial.	Sales	State	No prejudice; remark did not alter outcome given aggravators and overwhelming evidence.
Whether opening remarks about an escape were prejudicial to guilt/innocence.	Sales	State	No prejudice; opening remark was isolated and guilt was overwhelming; sentencing could have used other aggravators anyway.

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. Supreme Court 1984) (establishes two-prong test for ineffective assistance of counsel)
Greene v. State, 356 Ark. 59 (Ark. 2004) (rejected ineffective assistance claim for meritless argument about parole)
Anderson v. State, 2011 Ark. 488 (Ark. 2011) (required prejudice showing in Strickland; not met here)
Montgomery v. State, 2011 Ark. 462 (Ark. 2011) (reaffirmed standard of review for postconviction relief)
Williams v. State, 2011 Ark. 489 (Ark. 2011) (discussed prejudice standard in Strickland claim)
Myers v. State, 2012 Ark. 143 (Ark. 2012) (illustrated prejudice requirement in ineffective assistance claims)
Henington v. State, 2012 Ark. 181 (Ark. 2012) (described burden on showing deficient performance and prejudice)
Sanders v. State, 317 Ark. 328 (Ark. 1994) (prior-violent-felony aggravator admissibility)