Arkansas Supreme Court remands Warren Goodrum case to supplement record after missing jury forms

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Nov. 14 remanded the capital-murder case of Warren Goodrum to the Pulaski County Circuit Court, directing the trial court to settle and supplement the record because jury-verdict forms were not included in the circuit-court record. The court ordered the supplemental record filed within 30 days.

Goodrum was convicted by a jury of capital murder and abuse of a corpse. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for murder, received a consecutive five-year sentence for use of a firearm, and a concurrent 10-year sentence for abuse of a corpse. The opinion was issued per curiam.

The court cited Arkansas Supreme Court Rule 3-4(c)(2), which requires that “[v]erdict forms shall be inserted in the record” in jury trials, and noted its independent-review obligation under Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 4-3(a) when life imprisonment or death sentences are involved. The opinion referenced earlier decisions, including Ross v. State, 2024 Ark. 70, and Mays v. State, 2024 Ark. 160, in support of the remand.

Appellant counsel David Joseph Deutch is listed in the opinion as representing Goodrum. The Attorney General’s office was represented by Attorney General Tim Griffin and Assistant Attorney General Jason Michael Johnson. Judge Karen Whatley presided over the underlying Pulaski County Circuit Court case, No. 60CR-18-3598, as identified in the opinion.

The Supreme Court’s order is procedural: it does not alter the convictions or sentences in the published opinion but directs the trial court to place the missing jury-verdict forms into the record so the Supreme Court can complete its required review.