Annabelle Clinton Imber

“ The majority, in effect, bootstraps the legislative intent in the definition of "person" for the purposes of the homicide statutes to the definition of "person" in the wrongful death statute. Act 1273, as part of the criminal code, is not constitutionally susceptible to retroactive application under Article 2, section 17 of the Arkansas Constitution, or Article 1, section 10 of the United States Constitution. ”

“ Without getting into a discussion of whether creating liability for the wrongful death of a fetus, particularly in the medical negligence arena, creates "new obligations", I must observe that the source of legislative intent primarily relied upon by the majority in reversing our holding in Chatelain v. ”

“ Arkansas Code Annotated § 5-1-102 was passed as Act 1273 of 1999, three years after the events preceding the death of Baby Boy Aka. Legislative enactments are typically deemed to be prospective in application barring an express statement of a retroactive effect. ”