Judge Chris Carnahan of Conway is the Division One State District Court Judge for Faulkner and Van Buren Counties. He has served as Circuit Judge and was twice chosen as a Special Associate Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court. He is a graduate of UALR, UCA, the National Judicial College, and a former member of the Arkansas Judicial Counsel. Prior to his judicial service, Judge Carnahan was Legal Counsel for the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy and was Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the 20th Judicial District, and Deputy Prosecutor in the 15th Judicial District.
Judge Carnahan was county attorney for Scott, Conway,
Searcy and Van Buren Counties and city attorney over
prosecutor for the cities of Oppello, Menifee, Fairfield Bay, and Holland. His private practice included Domestic Relations, Property, and Employment Discrimination matters.
My judicial philosophy is simple and time tested: laws
passed by the people and the legislature should be respected and interpreted with their original meaning in context. Innocent human life must be protected by judges and the
guilty should be humanely punished. Finally, farmers, business, and citizens need a Supreme Court that allows
them to make rational decisions about their economic interests and will protect private property rights.”
Judge Carnahan presides of a Sobriety Court that targets high risk defendants with alcohol problems.
- He has actively pushed amnesty and community service instead of fines to solve the revolving door of courts that keep people in a debt cycle often over nonviolent, traffic offenses.
- Defendants in Judge Carnahan’s Court are likely to find themselves sentenced to get their GED at UACCM if convicted of theft or other misdemeanors.
- And when Mayflower and Conway were faced with unprecedented flooding in 2019, Judge Carnahan assigned probationers to fill sandbags to hold back the river.
Judge Carnahan is a member of Gun Owners of America and the National Rifle Association. He is a follower of Christ.