Opinion
Opinion delivered December 18, 1972
Petitioner, Jerry Wayne Baumgarner, has filed herein a petition, which we treat as a writ of certiorari, seeking to overturn the trial court's ruling that an indictment for first degree rape is not a bailable offense. Since Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), the death penalty cannot, under our present law, be assessed — thus the maximum penalty assessable is a life sentence. In Walker v. State, 137 Ark. 402, 209 S.W. 86 (1919), we held that a life sentence is a bailable offense under Art. 2, 8. Consequently, the trial court erroneously held that the offense here was not bailable. See Graham v. State, 253 Ark. 462, 486 S.W.2d 678, and State v. Johnson, 61 N.J. 351, 294 So.2d 245 (1972).
Reversed and remanded to trial court with directions to fix bail.