Isaac L. Hudson

Isaac L. Hudson, 27, of Malvern was sentenced Thursday at Malvern to serve 18 years in prison and fined $1,000 plus court costs by Seventh Judicial District Circuit Judge Phillip Shirron after a circuit court jury found Hudson guilty of committing commercial burglary.
The jury also convicted Hudson on a charge of misdemeanor theft of property. Shirron followed the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Hudson to serve one year in the Hot Spring County Jail and fined him $500.
Shirron told Hudson that by law the jail terms would run concurrently.
The jury of seven men and five women took about 30 minutes to convict Hudson and slightly more than one hour to recommend his punishment.
Hudson was convicted of a Class C felony that would ordinarily carry a prison term of not less than three years and not more than 10 years in prison. The jury recommended Hudson be sentenced as an habitual offender because of five prior felony convictions from 2002. He faced an enhanced sentence of not less than three years and not more than 30 years in prison.
The jury also recommended Hudson be placed in long-term drug treatment while incarcerated and Shirron incorporated the request into Hudson’s sentence.
According to testimony, Malvern Police Department officers were conducting a surveillance from inside a restaurant on East Page St. in Malvern about 4:30 a.m. April 30, 2007, when an inside light came on at Furniture For Less. Officers conducting the surveillance used a video camera to tape record a person, who they later identified as Hudson, exiting the closed business with a television. The officers testified that the person captured on the videotape entered a nearby apartment with the television and emerged some 10 minutes later without the television.
The officers conducting the surveillance called two patrol units to intercept the suspect as he walked west on East Page St., according to testimony. Police discovered Hudson’s identity after he was detained and questioned by patrol officers.
Seventh Judicial District Deputy Prosecutor Richard Garrett played the surveillance videotape for the jury and introduced it into evidence.
Attorney Gregory Crain, who defended Hudson along with attorney Phyllis Lemons, attacked the videotape in his opening statement.
“Take a look at what’s on the video and what’s not on the video,” Crain told jurors. “All you’ll see is someone walking.”
Crain told jurors it would be difficult to identify the person on the video image.
He also questioned why there was a 10-minute gap on the tape.
MPD Lt. Bernie Mosley testified that he was operating the camera and stopped taping while the suspect was in the apartment because the camera’s battery was low on power.
MPD Ofc. Kevin Yeagle testified that the inside light at the business caught his attention because it was the first time he had ever seen light coming from the front of the building. Testimony indicated there are no windows on the store’s front, only a roll-up garage-style door and a standard-sized entry door. Police officers conducting a follow-up investigation found the front door of the business open slightly and said the person entering the building removed a window screen and entered through a side window.
Lemons also attacked the videotape. She made a motion during noon recess out of the hearing of the jury asking for a directed verdict acquitting Hudson. Lemons said the videotape did not show the suspect clearly enough to identify any person and that the testimony of the officers contradicted what was shown on the tape.
Shirron denied Lemons’ motion for a directed verdict and allowed the case to go forward to the jury.
The defense did not present a case and Hudson did not take the stand to defend himself against the charges. He did, however, testify during the penalty phase of the trial after the jury found him guilty of the two charges.
Hudson apologized to Monty Ledbetter, who owned the furniture store at the time of the burglary, and asked the jury to be lenient when recommending his punishment.