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Court of Appeals rules on treatment of corpses Thursday, Feb 28, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The state Court of Appeals on Wednesday rejected a Stephens man's argument that wrapping his girlfriend's body in garbage bags after shot her to death and leaving it in a room for several days did not constitute abuse of a corpse. In a separate case Wednesday, the appeals court set forth guidelines for Arkansas courts to follow when family members disagree over whether to disinter a body. Jeffery Lynn Dailey of Stephens was convicted in Ouachita County Circuit Court last March of manslaughter, committing a felony with a firearm and abuse of a corpse. He was sentenced to four years in prison for manslaughter, 10 years for the firearm offense and four years for abuse of a corpse, with the sentences to run consecutively. Prosecutors said Dailey fatally shot his girlfriend, Sheila Dillard, on March 25, 2006, then placed her body in garbage bags, secured the bags with duct tape and covered the body with a tarp. Dillard's decomposing body was found in a "junk room" in the couple's home four days later. Dailey, 39, appealed his conviction for abuse of a corpse, claiming his treatment of his girlfriend's body did not constitute abuse. Under state law, abuse of a corpse occurs when a person knowingly "disinters, removes, dissects or mutilates a corpse" or otherwise "mistreats a corpse in a manner offensive to a person of reasonable sensibilities." Dailey contended his actions did not fall under that definition. In its opinion Wednesday affirming Dailey's conviction, the Court of Appeals noted that the state Supreme Court has ruled that a person who neglects a corpse may be guilty of the offense abuse of a corpse. The court cited a 1995 case in which a St. Francis County woman wrapped her stillborn baby in bloody sheets and placed the body in a trash bin. The woman was convicted of abuse of a corpse. The state Supreme Court upheld the conviction. Also Wednesday, the appeals court reversed an Izard County circuit judge's decision to deny a petition to disinter the remains of Tamara Warden, who died in an automobile accident in July 2000 at age 17. In March 2007, Warden's mother, Lisa Tozer, and brother, Nicholas Warden, filed a petition seeking to disinter Tamara Warden's remains from a cemetery in Fulton County and have them reinterred in a cemetery in White County. Tamara Warden's adoptive father, Steve Warden, opposed disinterment, and Izard County Circuit Judge John Norman Harkey denied the petition. The Court of Appeals said there is no previous Arkansas case on which to base a ruling in the matter, but said courts in Ohio and New York have set forth several factors to be considered when family members disagree over disinterment. Among them were the degree of relationship between the parties in the case and the decedent; the wishes of the decedent; the conduct of the parties; the length of time that has elapsed since interment; and the strength of the reasons offered in favor of and in opposition to reinterment. "We find these factors persuasive and therefore adopt them," Judge Brian Miller wrote in the court's opinion. The appeals court remanded the case to circuit court for consideration of those issues. |
