Ark. Code Ann. » Title 5 Chapter 53
Arkansas Code Annotated

Ark. Code Ann. § 5-53-110 (2020)

Tampering

✓ Arkansas Code release r76: Acts through about 2020 (2021-2025 sessions missing)
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  1. A person commits the offense of tampering if, believing that an official proceeding or investigation is pending or about to be instituted, he or she induces or attempts to induce another person to:
    1. Testify or inform falsely;
    2. Withhold any unprivileged testimony, information, document, or thing regardless of the admissibility under the rules of evidence of the testimony, information, document, or thing and notwithstanding the relevance or probative value of the testimony, information, document, or thing to an investigation;
    3. Elude legal process summoning that person to testify or supply evidence, regardless of whether the legal process was lawfully issued; or
    4. Absent himself or herself from any proceeding or investigation to which that person has been summoned.
    1. Tampering under subdivision (a)(1) of this section is a Class D felony.
    2. Otherwise, tampering is a Class A misdemeanor.

History. Acts 1975, No. 280, § 2610; A.S.A. 1947, § 41-2610; Acts 2007, No. 827, § 45; 2019, No. 1017, § 3.

Amendments. The 2019 amendment added (b)(1); redesignated former (b) as (b)(2); added “Otherwise” in (b)(2); and made stylistic changes.

Research References

ALR.

Negligent spoliation of evidence, interfering with prospective civil action, as actionable. 101 A.L.R.5th 61.

Effect of spoliation of evidence in products liability action. 102 A.L.R.5th 99.

Electronic spoliation of evidence. 3 A.L.R.6th 13.

Case Notes

Applicability.

Criminal statutes prohibiting tampering with evidence do not impose a duty upon an employer to preserve component parts of a machine which are needed for an employee injured by the machine to maintain an action against the manufacturer of the machine. Wilson v. Beloit Corp., 725 F. Supp. 1056 (W.D. Ark. 1989), aff'd, 921 F.2d 765 (8th Cir. 1990).

False Testimony.

A contract by one person to furnish another any kind of proof that would help him win his case, regardless of whether the testimony was to be true or false, contemplated subornation of perjury. Luce v. Endsley, 145 Ark. 287, 224 S.W. 619 (1920) (decision under prior law).

One who induced his wife to make a false affidavit could be guilty of subornation of perjury by inducing her to commit willful and corrupt perjury, and he could not be found guilty unless the wife knew that the statements in the affidavit were false. Thomas v. State, 149 Ark. 68, 231 S.W. 200 (1921) (decision under prior law).

Cited: Wilson v. Beloit Corp., 921 F.2d 765 (8th Cir. 1990).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 9 cases (4 in the last 5 years), 1989–2026 · leading case: Union Pac. R.R. v. Barber, 149 S.W.3d 325 (Ark. 2004).
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Union Pac. R.R. v. Barber, 149 S.W.3d 325 (Ark. 2004). · cites it 4× “See Ark.Code Ann. § 5-53-110 (Repl.1997). We grant Union Pacific's request to strike that portion of the Barbers' brief.”
State v. Oldner, 206 S.W.3d 818 (Ark. 2005). · cites it 2× “He was convicted of one count of witness tampering, a Class A misdemeanor, in violation of Ark. Code Ann. § 5-53-110 (Repl. 1997). The evidence supporting that conviction was that Oldner asked two city employees, Janice Young and Sherri Flippo, to lie concerning the disposition…”
State v. Vittitow, 186 S.W.3d 237 (Ark. 2004). · cites it 4× “After a jury trial, Mayor Oldner was convicted of witness tampering in violation of Ark.Code Ann. § 5-53-110, and abuse of office in violation of Ark.”
People v. Yascavage, 101 P.3d 1090 (Colo. 2004). “10 (2004), Ark.Code Ann. § 5-53-110 (2003), Model Penal Code § 241.”
Wilson v. Beloit Corp., 725 F. Supp. 1056 (W.D. Ark. 1989). · cites it 2× “Wilson cites two criminal statutes, Ark.Code Ann. §§ 5-53-110 and 5-53-111, which proscribe tampering with an official proceeding or investigation, and tampering with physical evidence, respectively.”
John Faulkner v. State of Arkansas, 2024 Ark. 2, 680 S.W.3d 706. · cites it 2× “” Ark. Code Ann. § 5-53-110 (a)(1) (Supp. 2019).”
John Faulkner v. State of Arkansas, 2024 Ark. 2, 680 S.W.3d 706. · cites it 2× “” Ark. Code Ann. § 5-53-110 (a)(1) (Supp. 2019).”
Quinton Earl Settles v. State of Arkansas, 2026 Ark. App. 119. · cites it 3× “Ark. Code Ann. § 5-53-110 (a)(1). 4 In his motion to dismiss, Settles argued that there was no evidence that he falsified, altered, or destroyed “anything.”
Shane Perry v. Walmart Stores, Inc., 2023 Ark. App. 599. · cites it 2× “To support his wrongful-termination claim, Perry relies on Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-53-110,23 which makes it a felony to induce or attempt to induce another person to testify or inform falsely.”
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