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Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-403

Multiple sentences — Concurrent and consecutive terms

Applied in 48 court decisions — leading case Buckley v. State (2002)

Most recently applied in Vasquez D. Hayes v. Dexter Payne, Director, Arkansas Division of Correction (May 2025)

Acts 1975, No. 280, § 903; A.S.A. 1947, § 41-903; Acts 2001, No. 1644, § 1.

How often courts cite this section

1989200020102020202540
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) When multiple sentences of imprisonment are imposed on a defendant convicted of more than one (1) offense, including an offense for which a previous suspension or probation has been revoked, the sentences shall run concurrently unless, upon recommendation of the jury or the court's own motion, the court orders the sentences to run consecutively.

(2) When a sentence of imprisonment is imposed on a defendant who has previously been sentenced to imprisonment, whether by a court of this state, a court of another state, or a federal court, the subsequent sentence shall run concurrently with any undischarged portion of the previous sentence unless, upon recommendation of the jury or the court's own motion, the court imposing the subsequent sentence orders it to run consecutively with the previous sentence.

(3) The power of the court to order that sentences run consecutively is subject to the following limitations: A sentence of imprisonment for a misdemeanor and a sentence of imprisonment for a felony shall run concurrently, and both sentences are satisfied by service of sentence for a felony; and

(4) The aggregate of consecutive terms for misdemeanors shall not exceed one (1) year.

(5) The court is not bound by a recommendation of the jury concerning a sentencing option under this section.

Current official text: Arkansas General Assembly. Digitized from the UniCourt Code Improvement Commission public-domain capture. Reproduced from public-domain Arkansas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.