SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS
No. CR07261
RICHARD LYNN BELL,
APPELLANT,
VS.
STATE OF ARKANSAS,
APPELLEE,
Opinion Delivered November 1, 2007
APPEAL FROM THE LONOKE
COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT,
NO. CR05235,
HON. JOHN COLE, JUDGE,
AFFIRMED.
ANNABELLE CLINTON IMBER, Associate Justice
Appellant Richard Lynn Bell was convicted in Lonoke County Circuit Court of one
count of rape and two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor in the second degree.
The circuit court sentenced him to life imprisonment for the rape conviction and no time on
the endangeringthewelfareofaminor convictions. He now appeals, alleging six points of
error. Our jurisdiction is pursuant to Ark. R. Sup. Ct. 12(a)(2) (2007), as Bell received a
sentence of life imprisonment. We find no error and affirm.
On the morning of May 5, 2005, Bell was in the parking lot of the Lonoke County
Office of the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). He was waiting
in his car while his girlfriend and her mother went into the DHHSoffice. In the car with him
were the victim, B.C., age six, and the victim’s brother, S.C., approximately age three. Both
children are the siblings of Bell’s girlfriend. Also in the car was J.B., Bell’s sevenmonth
2
old son by his girlfriend.
That same morning, Matthew Heil happened to be sitting in a car in the DHHS
parking lot. He was waiting with his two young nephews while his sisterinlaw, Shannette
Heil, went to a meeting inside the DHHS office. Heil testified at trial that the van in which
he was waiting was facing Bell’s car, but two parking spaces over. He also testified that his
van sits high above the ground and that he could see into Bell’s car. Heil observed Bell
sitting in the passenger’s seat, shaking around violently, while a young girl leaned between
the seats and bobbed her head up and down out of Bell’s lap. Heil watched this go on for
approximately five or ten minutes. He admitted that he saw no exposed genitalia and could
not determine if Bell