A federal appeals court will hear arguments next month about whether multiple Arkansas police officers are immune from being sued over their actions that, in part, led to the wrongful conviction of two people.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled the case of Tina Jimerson and the estate of John Brown Jr., who each served 26 years in prison before being exonerated in a 1988 homicide, for Sept. 23 in St. Louis.
At issue is a ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker of Little Rock to deny qualified immunity to several law enforcement officers. In an Oct. 20, 2025, decision, Baker concluded that a jury could find that the officers violated the clear constitutional rights of Jimerson and Brown.
Jimerson and Brown, who died in 2020, were two of four people convicted of taking part in the murder and rape of 78-year-old Myrtle Holmes of Fordyce. Holmes was found dead Sept. 22, 1988. She had been beaten and stabbed inside her home, and her body was then placed in the trunk of her car.
Federal judges cleared Brown and Jimerson of roles in the killing in 2018. The state dropped the charges against them in 2020.
A state judge ordered another man, Charlie Vaughn, freed in January after 35 years in prison when DNA evidence excluded him from having taken part in the attack. Vaughn pleaded no contest to murder in Dallas County in exchange for his release.
A fourth man, 55-year-old Reginald Early, is serving a life sentence in the East Arkansas Regional Unit in Brickeys. DNA evidence from the scene matched Early, who told law enforcement he killed Holmes. Early later told a federal judge he acted alone.
The case has been assigned to Chief Judge Steven Colloton of Des Moines, Iowa; Judge Lavenski R. Smith of Little Rock; and Judge Justin D. Smith of Jefferson City, Mo.
Baker denied qualified immunity to former Fordyce Police Chief Ronnie Poole, Donny Ford, the sheriff of Dallas County at the time, and several Arkansas State Police investigators, finding that a jury could conclude they conspired to violate the rights of Jimerson and Brown.
"Therefore, construing all inferences in plaintiffs' favor, the court determined that there are genuine issues of material fact in dispute as to whether the defendants conspired to violate plaintiffs' rights," Baker wrote.
Jimerson and Brown sued the Dallas County sheriff's office and a variety of law enforcement officers in 2020, saying the officers conspired to hide evidence and violate their rights to ensure convictions of anyone arrested and charged with the killing of Holmes.
Baker dismissed much of the case, saying multiple law enforcement officers fell under qualified immunity and nothing in their conduct could lead jurors to conclude they violated the clear constitutional rights of Jimerson or Brown.
Police investigated the death of Holmes for 18 months before charging Vaughn, Early and Brown in March 1990. Jimerson was arrested later when she went to police to report a different crime. Even though Vaughn's initial plea was not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, and a mental status exam was ordered, no pretrial tests were done.
Police also placed an informant in Vaughn's cell. The informant cut a deal with prosecutors to record Vaughn and testify against him in exchange for drug charges against him being dropped.
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