Doctor’s office searches upheld
Sex-assault case evidence allowed
CONWAY — A judge has denied a Conway physician’s request to suppress evidence obtained as a result of two search warrants in the rape and sexual-assault case against him.
Robert Rook, 61, had challenged the legitimacy of June 2 and June 15 search warrants, which his attorney Patrick Benca said violate Rook’s constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment. That amendment prohibits “unreasonable searches and seizures.”
Judge Charles Clawson Jr. advised attorneys of his decision to deny the defense motion in a letter dated Tuesday and filed Friday in Faulkner County Circuit Court.
Clawson noted that one of Rook’s arguments was that the first warrant failed to establish the reliability of the witnesses relied upon by a police detective who prepared an affidavit seeking that warrant.
But Clawson said the witnesses were “the reporting victims.”
“The Courts have long made a distinction between a citizen informant as opposed to a paid or cooperating individual. This is case law which provides for an almost presumption of reliability for citizen informers in Arkansas,” the judge wrote.
Rook faces 10 counts of rape, 10 counts of second-degree sexual assault and one count of third-degree sexual assault involving 14 women, all patients. His trial is to begin Sept. 5.
Online court records show inventory from the first warrant, executed June 3, comprised medical records for one of Rook’s accusers. The June 15 warrant, executed June 20, collected more inventory: 29 pages of documents from storage in Rook’s personal office. Listed were patient records for nine people and information relating to the
Rock, will have to schedule a time when Rosenzweig and special prosecutor Jason Barrett can meet to set dates for pretrial matters and the trial date.
Rosenzweig wouldn’t say whether he thought Pearson ultimately would go to trial in Johnson County Circuit Court on charges of fleeing, reckless driving and first-offense driving while intoxicated, all misdemeanors, and refusing a breath test, which is listed as a violation. He said he was studying the evidence that was turned over to him and will decide how to approach the case.
Pearson has served as circuit judge for the 5th Judicial
Circuit, which includes Franklin, Johnson and Pope counties, since 2008. The Arkansas Supreme Court ordered him temporarily suspended Jan. 26 on a petition filed by the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission.
Pearson was arrested by state police after driving through the checkpoint that was set up on Crawford Street south of Interstate 40 on Jan. 20, according to Smith’s affidavit that was filed March 10, the same day the charges were filed against Pearson in circuit court.
“The driver was very intoxicated,” Smith wrote. “He was not actively resisting, but his speech was slurred and slow, he smelled of intoxicants and did not follow instructions.”
Pearson later threw up
on himself and lost control of his bladder while being booked into the county jail, the affidavit said. He was uncooperative while being fingerprinted, the affidavit said. And, since he was unable to stand on his own, troopers ruled out giving him a field sobriety test.
According to the affidavit, troopers were manning the checkpoint about 9:30 p.m. when they saw a gray GMC pickup approach from the south, driving toward Clarksville. The truck didn’t stop at the checkpoint, and the driver didn’t acknowledge the officers.
Troopers gave chase with lights and sirens but the pickup continued on at about 40 mph, the affidavit said. The pickup drifted over the line on the side of the road multiple times, and the passenger
side tires went off the roadway at one point.
Smith wrote that as they approached a side road, the pickup slowed. He drove up beside the pickup and slightly in front of it to block its path as another trooper drove up behind.
The pickup drove slowly around the trooper’s car, pulled into the driveway of an old storefront where it maneuvered around an SUV and started to drive back out onto Crawford Street. Smith wrote that he turned into the right rear of the pickup, pushing it sideways. The pickup then stopped facing east against the front of Smith’s car.
In a brief search of the pickup, troopers found two empty Stella Artois beer bottles and four unopened bottles, the affidavit said.