Tom Buck Steele v. State of Arkansas

── Tom Buck Steele v. State of Arkansas ── Court: Court of Appeals of Arkansas Date: April 01, 2026 Category: General Cite as 2026 Ark. App. 200 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION II No. CR-25-19 TOM BUCK STEELE Opinion Delivered April 1, 2026 APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE HOT SPRING COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT V. [NO. 30CR-12-34] STATE OF ARKANSAS HONORABLE MARGARET DOBSON, APPELLEE JUDGE AFFIRMED ROBERT J. GLADWIN, Judge A Hot Spring County Circuit Court jury convicted appellant Tom Buck Steele of twenty counts of possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. He was sentenced to an aggregate terms of 164 years’ imprisonment and a $56,000 fine; his convictions were affirmed on appeal. See Steele v. State, 2014 Ark. App. 257, 434 S.W.3d 424. This appeal stems from the circuit court’s denial of Steele’s subsequent Rule 37 petition for postconviction relief. We affirm. I. Background Facts On September 15, 2011, Agent Wes Baxter in the Cyber Crimes Division of the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office determined that the IP address associated with a computer containing child pornography was registered to Steele at his home address in Malvern, Arkansas. A search warrant was obtained, which was executed on October 9, 2011, and Baxter along with local law enforcement officers entered Steele’s residence and found two computers in Steele’s bedroom. In his police statement, Steele acknowledged he owned both computers but stated that he only used the Dell computer, not the Sony. Steele also told law enforcement that that his nine-year-old son lived with him; that his ex-wife had a key to his home; that his adult son “probably” knew the passwords to the Sony computer; and that he recalled updating the antivirus software on the Sony computer approximately one month earlier. Steele told the officers that he worked in nuclear medicine at a hospital, that his hours were 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily, and he had not recently taken any time off work. Special Agent Jeff Shackelford, the director of forensic services for the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office, testified as an expert in computer-forensic analysis. He testified that only the Sony computer contained images of child pornography. The Sony also contained pictures of Steele, email accounts, and browser history, including website information for Steele’s son’s elementary school, which was last accessed on May 27, 2011. Shackelford stated that he found nearly one hundred files of suspected child pornography. Gail Drobena, the senior human resources manager at Mercy Hospital in Hot Springs where Steele was employed, testified to relevant dates and times in 2010 and 2011 from timesheets showing when Steele had clocked in and out at work. Shackelford testified that he compared Steele’s timesheets with the dates and times that the ninety-eight files of child pornography were created and last accessed and that not a single folder had been opened at a time when Steele was confirmed to have been at work. 2  Angela Arbuckle, Steele’s ex-wife, testified that Steele had full custody of their son. She stated that she had a key to Steele’s house and she knew the password for the Sony computer. Arbuckle also testified that, unbeknownst to Steele, she had taken her boyfriend and an acquaintance to Steele’s home and allowed them access to the Sony computer while Steele was at work. Steele took the stand in his own defense. He testified that he had no knowledge as to how the child pornography got on his