A Blytheville business owner pleaded no contest to operating a funeral home without a license Thursday in Blytheville District Court.
Effie Collins, 53, of 101 W. Sycamore, was charged last April after her funeral director's license had been revoked by the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors the year before.
Special prosecutor Curt Huckaby said Thursday morning that Collins agreed last month to plead no contest to the charges and pay $140 in court costs. Collins also had to agree that she would not engage in the operation of a funeral home or act as a funeral director for one year unless she first regained her revoked license to do so.
If convicted of the offense, Collins could have been sentenced to a year in the Mississippi County Jail. Instead, imposition of sentence was suspended for a year.
If Collins commits any other offense in that year, the suspension can be lifted and Collins may have to serve the jail time.
Collins did not appear in court before Special Judge Mike Gibson. Instead, Huckaby brought an order which had been agreed upon by Collins and her attorney, Larry Steele of Walnut Ridge.
dhilton@blythevillecourier.com