State Digest

Arkansas court rules blood taken legally in DWI conviction

LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The Arkansas Supreme Court has upheld a man's driving while intoxicated conviction, saying his argument that a blood sample was taken illegally was an "absurd" interpretation of state law.

In an opinion released Thursday, the court affirmed the DWI conviction of Ernie Charles Metzner.

Metzner's appeal argued that a circuit court judge was wrong not to suppress a blood-alcohol test taken after the Benton County Sheriff's office obtained a search warrant to take a blood sample from him. Metzner argued that Arkansas' implied-consent law prohibits a search warrant in order to obtain a chemical test of the blood.

The court said it would not interpret the law "as to reach an absurd conclusion" that would afford DWI suspects more protection than other criminal defendants.

Court upholds

doctor's conviction in '02 slayings

LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas' highest court has upheld the conviction of a doctor serving a life sentence for killing two men at a Conway home in 2002.

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the 2013 capital murder conviction of Richard Conte in the deaths of Carter Elliott and Timothy Robertson.

Prosecutors charged Conte in 2011 as he was being released from prison in Nevada, where he was serving time for kidnapping his ex-wife, who was once married to Carter Elliott.

Conte had appealed on several points, including arguing that the case should have been dismissed because of the nine-year delay in filing charges against him.

Acxiom selling IT

operations to 2

private-equity firms

LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Little Rock-based Acxiom Corp. said it is selling its information-technology infrastructure management operations to two private-equity firms in a potential $190 million deal.

Acxiom will retain a 5 percent interest in the value of the company after the sale to Charlesbank Capital Partners and M/C Partners is finished, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

Acxiom said Wednesday that it will receive $140 million when the sale closes, which is likely to take 45 to 60 days pending regulatory approval. The company also will get up to $50 million in contingent payments subject to certain performance requirements; it didn't provide further details.

The sale to Charlesbank and M/C Partners will help Acxiom focus on growing its core marketing and data services business, CEO Scott Howe said.

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