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SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS
No. CR06-581
STATE OF ARKANSAS
APPELLANT,
VS.
BRODERICK ANTOINE BURNETT,
APPELLEE,
Opinion Delivered February 1, 2007
APPEAL FROM MONROE COUNTY
CIRCUIT COURT,
NO. CR98-112,
HON. L.T. SIMES, JUDGE,
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
JIM GUNTER, Associate Justice
This appeal arises from an order to seal the record of appellee, Broderick Antoine
Burnett, in the Monroe County Circuit Court. The State appeals, arguing that the circuit
court erred by entering an order to seal Burnett’s record of a crime for which expungement
was unavailable. We reverse and remand to set aside the circuit court’s order to seal
Burnett’s record.
Burnett was arrested and charged with the offenses of burglary and possession of a
controlled substance with intent to deliver. He was found guilty of burglary on February 10,
1997, and received a sentence of seven years suspended imposition of sentence. He pleaded
guilty in 1999 to the reduced charge of possession of a controlled substance in Monroe
County Circuit Court. A judgment and commitment order was entered on February 9, 1999,
showing that Burnett was sentenced to 60 months’ incarceration, with the notation that the
sentence could be served in boot camp. Burnett filed a petition to seal his record on June 22,
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2005. The State filed an objection on June 29, 2005, submitting that Burnett’s incarceration
pursuant to the judgment and commitment order made him ineligible for the benefits of
expungement under Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-311 (Repl. 1997). The circuit court entered an
order filed on March 2, 2006, sealing the record and holding that Burnett had been sentenced
under the provisions of § 5-4-311. The State timely filed a notice of appeal seeking reversal
of the order to seal. We review issues of statutory interpretation de novo. State v. Sola, 354
Ark. 76, S.W.3d 95 (2003).
Before we discuss the merits of this case, we must first determine whether this issue
is properly before us under Rule 3 of