Paul Vincent Fox v. State of Arkansas

── Paul Vincent Fox v. State of Arkansas ── Court: Court of Appeals of Arkansas Date: May 06, 2026 Category: General Cite as 2026 Ark. App. 285 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION IV No. CR-25-433 PAUL VINCENT FOX Opinion Delivered May 6, 2026 APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE FAULKNER COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT V. [NO. 23CR-22-1175] STATE OF ARKANSAS HONORABLE H.G. FOSTER, JUDGE APPELLEE AFFIRMED WENDY SCHOLTENS WOOD, Judge Paul Fox appeals from a Faulkner County Circuit Court sentencing order convicting him of two counts of second-degree domestic battery, three counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, criminal mischief, and intimidating a witness and sentencing him to an aggregate of seventeen years’ imprisonment. In addition to challenging the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the convictions, Fox contends that the circuit court erred in denying his request to represent himself at his jury trial and abused its discretion in not permitting him to call his witnesses during trial. We affirm. I. Facts At a pretrial hearing the day before trial, defense counsel informed the court that he was ready for trial but had a doctor’s appointment for his knee later that day and that the doctor may tell him he needs to be off his knee. Fox said he did not want a continuance. He wanted a trial the following day because he had witnesses coming into town to “speak up” for him; otherwise, he wanted his case dismissed. The circuit court asked Fox, “Do you want to represent yourself tomorrow?” Fox responded, “If [my attorney] cannot represent me, yes, I do. It’s my only choice. Either that or throw the case out.” The court later asked Fox if he was satisfied with defense counsel. Fox answered, “Yeah,” and when the court asked Fox if he felt good about defense counsel, Fox said, “Of course I do.” However, Fox added, “I think I could even represent myself to be quite honest with you.” The court determined that Fox’s request to represent himself was a conditional request—not an unequivocal waiver of the right to counsel. The next day, defense counsel was present for the trial. After the jury was sworn in, Fox again stated that he wanted his brother to testify, and the State objected because the defense had not timely disclosed its witnesses. The court stated that the issue of whether the defense would be allowed to call his brother was “an argument that we’re going to have to have on the record at some point.” The issue of self-representation was discussed again after Fox asked the court how to contact witnesses to let them know he intended to call them to testify. When the court informed Fox that the discovery deadline had passed, Fox asked, “[I]f I fire [my attorney] today . . . if I let him go and then choose to represent myself, how would I go about contacting them[?]” The court told Fox if he let his attorney go, the court would likely have to declare a mistrial. The State objected, stating that it was too late to relieve Fox’s attorney because the 2 trial had started. Fox said that he would “rather fire him and hire another attorney” if he could. The court stated that could not be done in the middle of trial, and the trial proceeded. Angel McFarland testified that she has three children with Fox and that she and the children lived in Texas in November 2022. She stated that she was in Conway, Arkansas, on November 22, to pick up the children, who had been visiting Fox over Thanksgiving. McFarland testified that she and the children, along with her puppy, stayed overni