ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT
No. CR 05-601
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION
DONALD SPORER
Appellant
v.
STATE OF ARKANSAS
Appellee
Opinion Delivered June 15, 2006
APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT
OF CLARK COUNTY, CR 2003-102,
HON. JOHN ALEXANDER THOMAS,
JUDGE
AFFIRMED
PER CURIAM
A judgment entered November 5, 2003, reflects that appellant Donald Sporer entered a plea
of nolo contendere to the charge of fourth-degree sexual assault on October 28, 2003, and was
sentenced to twelve months’ probation. Appellant filed a petition for writ of error coram nobis in
the trial court that was denied by order entered March 15, 2005. Appellant now brings this appeal
of that order.
Where a judgment of conviction was entered on a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, or the
judgment of conviction was not appealed, a petition for writ of error coram nobis is filed directly in
the trial court. Dansby v. State, 343 Ark. 635, 37 S.W.3d 599 (2001) (per curiam). Denial of a writ
of error coram nobis is reviewed by appeal. Magby v. State, 348 Ark. 415, 72 S.W.3d 508 (2002)
(per curiam). The standard of review of the denial of a writ of error coram nobis is whether the trial
court abused its discretion in granting or denying the writ. Cloird v. State, 357 Ark. 446, 182 S.W.3d
477 (2004). An abuse of discretion occurs when the circuit court acts arbitrarily or groundlessly.
Act 21, § 10 of the Second Extraordinary Session of 2003, modified section 12-12-
1
919(b)(1)(A)(I) effective June 3, 2004, to insert the language providing the fifteen-year
restriction on submitting an application. The prior statute did contain language in Section 12-12-
919(b)(2)(A) requiring a finding by the trial court that the applicant had not been adjudicated
guilty of a sex offense within fifteen years of release from prison or probation before the trial
court was required to grant an order terminating the obligation to register, but there was no time
restriction in section 12-12-919(b)(1)(A)(I) on the right to make an application.
The State