King Law Group, PLLC

02/27/2024

Share my sign and let people know I am why Amy Grimes is fighting so hard for her job. Her signs are all over the place and she has refused to hear any of my court cases for about two years. Look at my featured posts and comments to learn why my supporters and I think she needs to stop being a judge. Fort Smith deserves better.

02/27/2024

Judge Grimes has an opponent. You see her signs everywhere. This is why. Vote for Whitfield, and change your courts for the better.

I told the Democratic Party of Sebastian County the various ways Judge Grimes has failed them. Particularly, how she was suspending driver’s licenses for mere misdemeanor ma*****na possession.
Judge Grimes hasn’t been assigned to my cases for about 2 years, so I do not know what her current policy is, only what she did her first two years in office.
Even if you were just a passenger in a vehicle, walking down the street, or possessing it in your house.
Judge Grimes claimed that the statutes “required” her to do it. I showed her where it was discretionary and that she could, for “good cause” not suspend driver’s licenses. She refused to even look at the statute (per usual) and would become irate. At this meeting, she claimed that didn’t happen.
The prosecutors and I worked together to have people be convicted of “Possessing an Instrument of Crime” instead. A different, vaguer, broader statute, that, by statute, the judge does not have authority to suspend driver’s licenses over. Judge Grimes still insisted and attempted, over the prosecutor’s objections, and over defense’s objections, to suspend defendant’s driver’s licenses for merely having ma*****na. She claimed at the meeting today that was not something she did.
As district court judge, if the statute remains the same and I am allowed discretion, I will NEVER suspend a defendant’s driver’s license for merely possessing ma*****na.
The required “good cause” is simple: Public transportation in Fort Smith and the surrounding area is not good enough for me to justify suspending someone’s driver’s license for something unrelated to their driving.
Judge Grimes now claims she has been exercising her discretion for good cause and she will not suspend your driver’s license for possession of instrument of crime. I’m glad I was able to make a difference and she finally listened, if that’s true.

02/27/2024

Judge Grimes has an opponent. You see her signs everywhere. This is why. Vote for Whitfield, and change your courts for the better.

A short story in a series of short stories about how unfair Fort Smith District Court Judge Amy Grimes is and one of the dozens of reasons I'm running against her. I appealed about 30 of her denials of petitions to seal and had them all overturned in one day. This is one of those petitions to seal.

In 2002, Billy Gilbert was accused of misdemeanor battery on his teenage son. Billy's son was trying to leave in his truck and they struggled over the truck door. A neighbor saw the commotion after it began, and called the police. Some of the door grease had gotten on Billy's son's arm. When the police finally spoke to Billy's son, they mistook the door grease for a bruise, and arrested Billy.
Billy was not found guilty of battery, instead a judge ruled in 2003 that the charge was DISMISSED.
In January 2021, now 59 years old, Billy hired me to seal this dismissed charge. You see, the FBI had trouble understanding the court paperwork and was not allowing Billy to pass a background check for his security clearance and to protect his stroke-victim wheelchair bound wife.
If the prosecutor does not object, the law demands that the case be sealed.
The prosecutor did not object. After 6 months of nonsensical denials, Judge Grimes finally decided to let Billy have his hearing. I wrote a brief outlining what the law was. The prosecutor did not even show up for the hearing. I told Judge Grimes I didn't feel comfortable discussing this case without the prosecutor present because it is illegal to have ex parte communications. Judge Grimes ordered me to proceed. I then told Judge Grimes the law that the burden of proof was on the prosecutor, and that this petition to seal should be granted as a matter of law since they are not here.

Jude Grimes denied my motions and ordered me to continue. Billy took the stand and testified he had not been in trouble since, and that he was not guilty of the crime which is why the charge was dismissed. Judge Grimes then said it did not matter that the charges were dismissed, that just because Billy was arrested, then the police must have had a reason to arrest him. She said Billy was not taking responsibility for the crime and therefore she was leaving it on his record. You see, Judge Grimes is the wife of the former Sebastian County Sheriff, Democrat Gary Grimes. However, this position does not even make sense as police officers were not even the ones to witness the alleged crime, it was a neighbor that saw the altercation AFTER it started!

After this farce of a hearing, I had a few more hearings in front of her on similar petitions to seal, all of which we lost. However, I appealed them to the judges above her and had her OVERTURNED 30 TIMES on February 10, 2022. OVER A YEAR after they were requested to be sealed. Something that should have taken 30-90 days took almost 13 months.

This is one of the many reasons why I'm running against Amy Grimes.

02/26/2024

02/22/2024

One of our very own! Please look at his posts educating the public on why this judge refuses to hear any of his cases. Good job, Whitfield! Exposing bad government has always been his pastime!

I told the Democratic Party of Sebastian County the various ways Judge Grimes has failed them. Particularly, how she was suspending driver’s licenses for mere misdemeanor ma*****na possession.
Judge Grimes hasn’t been assigned to my cases for about 2 years, so I do not know what her current policy is, only what she did her first two years in office.
Even if you were just a passenger in a vehicle, walking down the street, or possessing it in your house.
Judge Grimes claimed that the statutes “required” her to do it. I showed her where it was discretionary and that she could, for “good cause” not suspend driver’s licenses. She refused to even look at the statute (per usual) and would become irate. At this meeting, she claimed that didn’t happen.
The prosecutors and I worked together to have people be convicted of “Possessing an Instrument of Crime” instead. A different, vaguer, broader statute, that, by statute, the judge does not have authority to suspend driver’s licenses over. Judge Grimes still insisted and attempted, over the prosecutor’s objections, and over defense’s objections, to suspend defendant’s driver’s licenses for merely having ma*****na. She claimed at the meeting today that was not something she did.
As district court judge, if the statute remains the same and I am allowed discretion, I will NEVER suspend a defendant’s driver’s license for merely possessing ma*****na.
The required “good cause” is simple: Public transportation in Fort Smith and the surrounding area is not good enough for me to justify suspending someone’s driver’s license for something unrelated to their driving.
Judge Grimes now claims she has been exercising her discretion for good cause and she will not suspend your driver’s license for possession of instrument of crime. I’m glad I was able to make a difference and she finally listened, if that’s true.

06/07/2022

We're hiring in Fort Smith! We need a paralegal/legal receptionist who is fluent in English and Spanish. Please email us at [email protected] with your information if you're interested!

02/12/2022

https://www.uscis.gov/

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07/30/2019

Goodbye to our friend, Joel Price. Joel was a big help to Gary when he started King Law Office in Fort Smith in the 1990s. He had a big heart for people and animals, was eager to lend a helping hand, and was one of the smartest attorneys we knew. Fort Smith has lost a treasure and a great man. We will miss him.

07/04/2019

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus
November 2, 1883

Happy Independence Day from your friends at King Law Group, PLLC! 🇺🇸 🎇 🗽