Suspended judge’s trial date expected

Jurist, 57, charged with DWI, fleeing

Circuit Judge William Pearson, who police say was so drunk he couldn’t stand without help when he was arrested in January, is expected to have a trial date set in the next couple weeks, his attorney said Friday.

Pearson, 57, was arrested after police say he drove through an Arkansas State Police sobriety checkpoint near Clarksville in Johnson County and led troopers on a slow-speed chase before they were able to stop him.

“Cpl. [David] Smothers and I were able to get the driver out of [the] truck, but he was unable to stand on his own,” state police Sgt. Greg Smith wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit. “The driver slumped down to the ground as we were getting him out.”

Pearson’s attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig of Little Rock, said Friday the special judge appointed in the case, retired Judge John Langston of Little

Arkansas State Medical Board. Conway police also took a video of the office’s interior.

Clawson noted that Rook had argued that the evidence “would be stale and that probable cause diminishes.”

“It would be noted that in these circumstances the State was searching for patient files maintained in a physician’s office,” Clawson wrote. “There are numerous cases which [indicate] staleness is not necessarily a matter of time particularly when the item being sought is one which one would necessarily expect the subject of the search warrant to maintain for an extended period of time.”

“If the search warrant sought an item which would be readily disposed of such as a plastic baggie containing residue or an ashtray residue of a controlled substance, staleness in that instance would be an issue,” he wrote.

But Clawson said “it would be reasonable to assume that a physician would maintain patient records for a period of

time in excess of five months. Therefore, the argument of staleness is not strictly a matter of time.”

Clawson also rejected the defense’s argument that police took a “‘dragnet’ type approach” to finding information.

Rather, he said, the property specifically related to patient files that police believed contained evidence of the crime relating to three people.

Clawson said defense arguments were similar on both warrants. He ordered the case’s special prosecutor, Jason Barrett, to prepare a court order based on the letter — a common practice among judges.

Benca said Clawson’s decision would not “have an impact on our defense.”

“We thought the search was overreach,” Benca said in a text message. “The Court thought differently. It happens.”