Background
Noah Kristopher Craig received a ten-year suspended imposition of sentence after his 2019 convictions for accomplice to aggravated residential burglary and second-degree battery. A condition of the suspension was that he not violate any law.
The State sought revocation after an October 1, 2024 incident involving Craig and his then-girlfriend, Brittany Smart. Smart testified that Craig grabbed and choked her, at one point preventing her from breathing, threw her to the ground, struck her, and threatened to kill her. A responding deputy found Smart distraught with red marks around her neck and obtained her account of the incident.
The Court’s Holding
The Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed the revocation and Craig’s resulting ten-year prison sentence. The court held that the State proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Craig committed aggravated assault on a family or household member, violating the no-new-offenses condition of his suspended sentence.
Smart’s testimony that Craig applied pressure to her neck and prevented her from breathing satisfied Arkansas’s aggravated-assault statute. The court rejected Craig’s argument that the circumstances did not show extreme indifference to human life because Smart defended herself and did not lose consciousness. It deferred to the circuit court’s credibility findings and concluded that revocation was not clearly against the preponderance of the evidence.
Key Takeaways
- A suspended sentence may be revoked upon proof by a preponderance that the defendant inexcusably violated a condition.
- Choking a household member so that the person cannot breathe can establish aggravated assault on a family or household member.
- A victim’s ability to resist or remaining conscious does not foreclose a finding of extreme indifference to human life.
Why It Matters
The decision underscores the lower evidentiary burden in revocation proceedings and the appellate deference given to trial courts on witness credibility. It also confirms that evidence of impeded breathing during a domestic assault can support revocation based on aggravated assault.