SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS
No. CR 06-774
COREY S. WRIGHT,
APPELLANT,
VS.
STATE OF ARKANSAS,
APPELLEE,
Opinion Delivered February 1, 2007
APPEAL FROM THE LAFAYETTE
COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT,
NO. CR-05-28-1,
HON. JOE EDWARD GRIFFIN, JUDGE,
AFFIRMED.
PAUL E. DANIELSON, Associate Justice
Appellant Corey S. Wright brings this criminal appeal from his convictions for murder
in the first degree and arson and his sentences to a term of life imprisonment and a term of
fifteen years. He raises two points of error: (1) that the circuit court erred by admitting
hearsay testimony, and (2) that the circuit court erred by not directing a verdict for him on
the charge of arson. We affirm.
A review of the record reveals the following facts. On the morning of Tuesday,
December 3, 2002, Dorothy Thompson, the victim’s mother, was concerned about her
daughter, Sharlene Grissom, and attempted to reach her by phone. When Sharlene, the
victim, did not answer her phone, Thompson decided to get out of bed and go to Sharlene’s
home. Thompson, accompanied by her husband, found Sharlene dead in her mobile home,
which was also on fire. Sharlene proved too heavy to be moved and when she did not
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CR 06-774
respond, Thompson rushed to the neighbor’s phone to call the police.
One of the firemen responding to the fire at Sharlene’s home noticed the appellant
walking in the opposite direction from the crime scene. Appellant Wright was later detained
by the fire chief and was identified as the same man seen earlier walking along the highway.
Sharlene Grissom and the appellant had a child together and had been in a relationship for
several years; however, there was evidence of an altercation that occurred between the two
on the Sunday before the Tuesday morning that Sharlene was found dead. That altercation
resulted in the appellant being removed from Sharlene’s mobile home early Sunday morning
by her family.
Medical testimony revealed that Sharlene had been strangled to death. Vaginal and
rectal swabs detected spermatozoa cells, with odds of