11 Appellant Jeremy Clay Thompson appeals the order of the Saline County Circuit Court convicting him of the offense of failure to appear, a Class C felony, and sentencing him to a term of imprisonment of seven years. On appeal, he argues that the circuit court erred in denying his motion for a directed verdict because there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction because he had not yet been charged with a crime when he failed to appear. We accepted certification of this case from the Arkansas Court of Appeals because it involves an issue of first impression and an issue needing clarification of the law; hence, our jurisdiction is pursuant *113to Arkansas Supreme Court Rule 1 — 2(b)(1) and (5) (2014). We reverse and dismiss.
Appellant was arrested on August 21, 2012, for the felony offense of theft of property. He was arrested pursuant to a warrant issued by the Saline County Circuit Court on | ¡August 17, 2012.1 Appellant signed an “Appearance Agreement” on August 22, 2012, agreeing to appear in the Saline County District Court on September 4," 2012, at 1:00 p.m. and agreeing to pay an unsecured cash bond of $2,500, which required him to pay $250 that day. This agreement was signed by Appellant and the Saline County sheriff. Appellant did not appear in district court that day as required, and the Saline County district judge issued an arrest warrant for Appellant on the theft charge and a failure-to-appear charge. The State subsequently filed a felony information on September 26, 2012, alleging that Appellant committed the offenses of theft of property, a Class D felony, failure to appear, a Class C felony, and was a habitual offender. After Appellant was arrested again, he appeared before á district judge and was released by order of the district court pursuant to a “Pre-Trial Release Order,” entered on November 21, 2012. Pursuant to this order, Appellant was required to post a $15,000 sheriffs bond and was to appear in district court on December 11, 2012. This order also advised Appellant that a violation of the order could “result in sanctions including arrest, imposition of additional costs and/or revocation of Defendant’s release.”
Appellant again appeared in district court on the required date. Thereafter, on December 13, 2012, the district court entered an appearance order stating that Appellant had been informed of the pending charges, had waived a formal reading, had entered a plea of not (¡¡guilty, and- had been ordered to appear in the Saline County Circuit ■ Court on December 17, 2012.
A jury trial was held on June 5, 2013, at which time the State nol-prossed .the theft-of-property charge. Following the presentation of the State’s evidence, Appellant moved for a directed verdict. In so doing, Appellant argued that the State failed to meet its burden of proof because at the time of the alleged failure to appear, Appellant had not been formally charged with a criminal offense. The circuit court denied the motion. Appellant renewed his directed-verdict motion at the close of all the evidence, but the- circuit court again denied it. Prior to the court instructing the jury, Appellant proffered a ndnmodel jury instruction setting forth the offense of failure to, appear, which included an element that a formal charge was pending at the time Appellant failed to appear. .The circuit court declined to give this instruction. The jury found Appellant guilty and sentenced him as a habitual offender to a term of seven years’ imprisonment. This appeal followed.
Appellant’s sole point on appeal is that the circuit court erred in denying his motion for.a directed verdict because he could not be convicted of the offense of felony failure to appear when he had not yet been charged with any criminal offense. The State counters that the circuit court properly denied Appellant’s motion because, even assuming that there must be a felony charge pending at the time Appellant failed to appear, the theft-of-property charge |4was pending in the sense that *114there was a pending offense awaiting the filing of formal charges.2
On appeal, we treat a motion for directed verdict as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. See Laswell v. State, 2012 Ark. 201, 404 S.W.3d 818. In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence; this court determines whether the verdict is supported by substantial evidence, direct or circumstantial. See- id. Substantial evidence is evidence forceful enough to compel a conclusion one way or the other beyond suspicion or conjecture. See id. When a defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence that led to a conviction, the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable- to the State. See Sullivan v. State, 2012 Ark, 74, 386 S.W.3d 507.
The issue in this appeal turns on the language found in the failure-to-appear statute, codified at Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-54-120. The version of the statute, which is applicable in this case, provided as follows:
(a) A person commits the offense of failure to appear if he or she fails to appear without reasonable excuse subsequent to having been:
(2) Lawfully set at liberty upon condition that he or she appear' at a specified time, place, and court.
| B(b) Failure to appear is a Class C felony if the required appearance was in regard to a pending charge or disposition of a felony charge either before or after a determination of guilt of the charge. •
Ark.Code Ann. § 5-54-120(a)(2), (b) (Supp. 2011).
Clearly, under section 5-54-120(b), the offense of failure to appear can only be a Class C felony if the required appearance was “in regard to a pending charge or disposition of a felony charge either before or after a determination of guilt of the charge.” Appellant asserts that the word “pending” as used in section 5 — 54—120(b) necessarily contemplates that a charge has already been filed against an accused. The State counters that such an interpretation defies basic rules of statutory construction.
This court reviews issues of statutory interpretation de novo, as it is for this court to decide the meaning of a statute. See Newman v. State, 2011 Ark, 112, 380 S.W.3d 395. We construe criminal statutes strictly, resolving any doubts in favor of the defendant. See id. We also adhere to the basic rule of statutory construction, which is to give effect to the intent of the legislature. See id. We con.strue the statute just as it reads, giving the words their ordinary and usually accepted meaning in common language, and if the language of the statute is plain and unambiguous, and conveys a clear and definite meaning,' there is no occasion to resort to rules- of statutory interpretation. See id.
Under these rules, we must first look to the plain language of the statute .and only then, if the language is ambiguous, do we resort to the rules of statutory interpretation. In Webster’s New World Dictionary 998 (3d College ed. 1988), the word “pending” in its adjective form is defined as “not decided, determined, or established.” The definition uses the ex-*115ample “a ^pending lawsuit” to illustrate the word’s meaning. Similarly, Black’s Law Dictionary defines “pending” in its adjective form as “[rjemaining undecided; awaiting decision.” Black’s Law Dictionary 1248 (9th ed. 2009), Under these two definitions, it is clear that a “pending charge,” as used in section 5-54-120(b), means a charge that has been filed but not yet adjudicated.
The State acknowledges the aforementioned definitions but argues that “pending” as defined in Black’s is also “commonly understood to refer to events— such as the filing of formal charges — after a case has been initiated by arrest.” See Black’s Law Dictionary 1248 (9th ed. 2009). But, the State fails to acknowledge the fact that its preferred definition of “pending” applies when the word is used as a preposition, such as “pending the filing of charges.” The word “pending” as used in section 5-54-120(b) is used as an adjective to modify the word “charge.” Moreover, we do not agree that interpret ing “pending” to mean a charge that has already been filed would render the rest of the language in section 5-54-120(b) superfluous. The remainder of that provision, “disposition of a felony charge either before or after a determination of guilt of the charge,” simply specifies that an accused must appear at proceedings when there is going to be a disposition of a felony charge, whether it be a trial, dismissal, or other adjudication of a felony charge (before a determination of guilt) or sentencing (after a determination of guilt). Aceord-ingly, the circuit court erred in denying |7AppeIlant’s motion for a directed verdict because there was not sufficient evidence supporting his conviction.3 We therefore reverse and dismiss his conviction and sentence.
Reversed and dismissed.
Baker and Goodson, JJ., concur.