An insurance agent accused of defrauding the state when he didn’t mention he had a criminal history when applying for an Arkansas insurance license has won an appeal.
The Arkansas Court of Appeals on Jan. 4 overturned the state conviction of Steven Edward Gwin, whose application to the Arkansas Insurance Department failed to mention that he was convicted of a felony in federal court in Ohio.
The appeals court rejected the state’s argument that Gwin’s 1991 conviction in U.S. District Court of conspiracy to defraud, his insurance license application in Missouri that failed to mention the federal crime, and his Arkansas application were enough to convict him of the Arkansas crime. Both documents were signed by Gwin and were notarized.
But the appeals court said the state failed to prove that Gwin was the person who filled out the Arkansas application and that the evidence wasn’t sufficient to prove he intended to defraud the state.
“Of course we’re disappointed that the judges did not think there was enough evidence,” spokeswoman Charlye Woodard said. “We do think there was enough evidence.”
Woodard said the department has not encouraged the Attorney General’s office to appeal the ruling.
Gwin had been granted a license, but it was revoked in 2003 when state officials learned of his Ohio conviction, Woodard said. After he was found guilty in Pulaski County Circuit Court of submitting fraudulent information to the department, Gwin was sentenced last March to two years’ probation and a $250 fine.
On appeal, the state argued that since the applications were signed by Gwin and notarized, they were clear evidence of wrongdoing.
“The state maintained that the mere fact that he filled out applications for licenses in two separate states denying that he had a prior felony conviction is sufficient evidence that there was a fraudulent intent involved,” Judge Robert J. Gladwin wrote in the court’s opinion.
“It is clear that the identification of a defendant can be inferred from the evidence in the record rather than coming directly from an in-court identification of a witness,” the court’s ruling said. “However, there is simply not enough evidence in the record in this case from which to draw the inference.”
Gladwin was joined by judges Larry D. Vaught and Sam Bird.
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