FAULKNER COUNTY, Ark. — An Arkansas inmate who is on death row has requested that the court dismiss his appeal.
On August, 23, 2018, Scotty Ray Gardner, 65, was sentenced to death after being found guilty of capital murder by a jury. Gardner was convicted of killing his girlfriend, Susan Heather Stubbs, in March 2016.
In December 2025, Gardner sent a letter addressed to Circuit Judge Charles E. Clawson asking that the court deny his pending appeal. This was a reply to the state’s Nov. 24, 2025, response stating that Gardner and his counsel are not “entitled” to a hearing on the petition because “he failed to state specific reasons to show that his claims have merit.”…