By Wanda Freeman
Stephens Media
FORT SMITH — A judge today rejected a lottery winner’s claim that he was indigent and needed a public defender to represent him on a felony drug charge.
Joseph Kirk Pierce, 34, of Van Buren, appeared for arraignment today in Sebastian County Circuit Court on a charge of possession of methadone, one day after collecting the first $100,000 prize awarded by Arkansas’ new lottery.
Despite the windfall, Pierce submitted a form claiming he could not afford an attorney. Typically when that happens, the judge appoints a public defender to represent the defendant.
But Circuit Judge Steve Tabor learned Pierce won the lottery.
“Did you collect the winnings?” he asked.
When Pierce said yes, Tabor postponed the arraignment for a week and told Pierce he would have to hire his own attorney.
Pierce was arrested Aug. 22 on misdemeanor complaints of loitering and indecent exposure after police said he exposed himself to an undercover officer and agreed to a sex act at Fort Smith Park.
During the arrest, police said they found Pierce in possession of methadone and booked him on that complaint as well.
Under a plea agreement on the misdemeanor charges, Pierce was sentenced to 10 days in jail. He has four days of credit toward the sentence.
He turned himself in for the remaining six days late Tuesday, after going to Little Rock to collect his lottery money. He was released on bond today on the felony charge but continued to serve his jail sentence.
Pierce bought a $5 scratch-off lottery ticket Sunday while working at the Pointer Express 2 convenience store at 3915 Kibler Road in Van Buren. After winning $5, he bought another ticket, which produced the jackpot. He was the first person to win a prize that size since the lottery began Sept. 28.
Pierce told a reporter he was going to Little Rock to pick up his winnings Tuesday morning so he could go to work later in the day. He said he planned to buy a house and a car, and to spend the money on his wife, 13-year-old child and infant daughter.
As part of his plea agreement, Pierce is banned from Fort Smith parks. He has a record of previous arrests on similar sex-related misdemeanors.
The charge of methadone possession is punishable by three to 10 years in prison and or fines up to $10,000.
Lottery Director Ernie Passailaigue said today it is inevitable that some lottery prizes will go to people who have run afoul of the law.
“The lottery is open to society,” he said. “There’s probably a few bad people who’ve run afoul of the law for one reason or another who play the lottery and have won a prize. The majority of the people that play are honest, law-abiding citizens who pay their taxes and are not felons or anything else.”
Arkansas’ lottery law prohibits people who are in jail or prison from collecting lottery prizes, but Pierce was not incarcerated at the time he collected the prize and apparently will get to keep the money.
Passailaigue said the holder of the Pointer Express’ lottery retail license underwent a criminal background check like all lottery retailers, but Pierce is a clerk at the store, not the license holder.
“If we had to conduct background checks on every clerk that worked in every store, that’s all we’d do. We wouldn’t sell one lottery ticket, because the turnover in these stores is just enormous,” he said.
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Arkansas News Bureau reporter John Lyon contributed to this report.
