Full Opinion

Cite as 2026 Ark. App. 462 ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION III No. CR-26-5 MICHAEL KING Opinion Delivered October 7, 2026 APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE GREENE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT V. [NO. 28CR-20-555] STATE OF ARKANSAS HONORABLE PAMELA HONEYCUTT, APPELLEE JUDGE AFFIRMED RAYMOND R. ABRAMSON, Judge The Greene County Circuit Court revoked appellant Michael King’s probation and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment. On appeal, King challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the revocation. We affirm. On April 5, 2021, Michael King pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced to sixty months of supervised probation. On December 30, 2024, the State filed a petition to revoke King’s probation, alleging that he failed to report to his probation officer within twenty-four hours of release from the Greene County Detention Center and that his whereabouts were still unknown. On September 15, 2025, the circuit court held a hearing on the petition to revoke. King’s probation officer, Kenny Milligan, testified that King appeared for his initial intake appointment on April 4, 2024. Milligan next saw King on June 6, 2024, at the Greene County Detention Center where King gave Milligan his address and phone number. Milligan attested that he informed King that King was required to report within twenty-four hours of being released from jail. Milligan was aware that King had been released from jail on December 1, 2024, and he attempted to contact King by phone and mail and performed a house visit over the next week to no avail. King testified next. He conceded that he failed to report to his probation officer. When asked why he did not report, King first testified that he “didn’t have a place to go” because his landlord had rented his apartment to someone else. When questioned further by the court, King admitted, “I got high. I’m not going to lie. I had a drug problem. I don’t deny that. I got high and I’ve been incarcerated in the county jail for the last 180 or 190 days now. That’s why I haven’t seen him none since then.” King further conceded on cross-examination that he knew where the probation and parole office was and that he knew the conditions of probation yet failed to report. The circuit court ruled from the bench that King had violated his probation by failing to report and absconding and sentenced King to sixty months’ incarceration in the Arkansas Division of Correction. To revoke probation, the burden is on the State to prove the violation of a condition of the probation by a preponderance of the evidence. Jones v. State, 355 Ark. 630, 144 S.W.3d 254 (2004). Because the burden of proof is by a preponderance of the evidence rather than beyond a reasonable doubt, evidence that is insufficient to support a criminal conviction may be sufficient to support a revocation. Id. Circumstantial evidence may be sufficient to warrant revocation. Passmore v. State, 2024 Ark. App. 425, 698 S.W.3d 400. 2 King does not contest that he failed to report to his probation officer. Rather, King argues on appeal that he had good cause for failing to report to his probation officer when he was released from the Greene County Detention Center. Specifically, King argues that he did not have an apartment at the time of his release and that he was reincarcerated soon after his release, which provided sufficient cause for his failing to report. King was released from the Greene County Detention Center on December 2, 2024. King testified at the hearing that he had been incarcerated for approximately “180 or 190 days now.” If King is correct, and there was no evidence to the contrary, then King was reincarcerated on March 9 or March 19, 2025, some three months after his release. At the hearing, King conceded that he never went to the probation office despite knowing where it was located, and he testified, “Yes. I knew I didn’t go see my probation officer.” This court has held that, despite a lack of resources, the failure to report is inexcusable when the appellant fails to put forth “even a modicum of effort.” See Goad v. State, 2021 Ark. App. 483, at 5, 636 S.W.3d 401, 403 (quoting Holmes-Childers v. State, 2016 Ark. App 464, at 6, 504 645, 649); see also Turner v. State, 2019 Ark. App. 534, at 6, 590 S.W.3d 158, 162 (affirming revocation when defendant failed to report and had no contact with the probation office during a four-month period). Accordingly, King’s lack of housing and his reincarceration more than three months after his release cannot excuse his failure to report. Affirmed. KLAPPENBACH, C.J., and VIRDEN, J., agree. Brett D. Watson, Attorney at Law, PLLC, by: Brett D. Watson, for appellant. Tim Griffin, Att’y Gen., by: Christopher Warthen, Ass’t Att’y Gen., for appellee. 3