DocketNumber: No. CV-18-485
Citation Numbers: 564 S.W.3d 516, 2019 Ark. 6
Judges: Goodson
Filed Date: 1/17/2019
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 1/21/2022
Appellant Michael Lee Anderson appeals the dismissal of his petition for writ of habeas corpus. Anderson argues on appeal, as he did in his petition, that he is being illegally detained because he was not personally charged in an original felony information; instead, his name was added to an amendment to the felony information that originally charged only his brother Myron with the offenses of which Anderson was later convicted. We find no error and affirm the order.
I. Background
In 2007, Anderson, who was tried jointly with Myron, was found guilty of five counts of committing a terroristic act and one count of possession of a firearm by certain persons. He was sentenced to an aggregate term of 1320 months' imprisonment. The Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed. Anderson v. State ,
II. Grounds for Issuance of the Writ
A writ of habeas corpus is proper when a judgment of conviction is invalid on its face or when a circuit court lacks jurisdiction over the cause. Philyaw v. Kelley ,
III. Standard of Review
A circuit court's decision on a petition for writ of habeas corpus will be upheld unless it is clearly erroneous. Hobbs v. Gordon ,
IV. Legality of Judgment of Conviction
As stated, Anderson argues that the trial court lacked personal jurisdiction in his case because he was charged in an amendment to the information originally filed in his brother Myron's case rather than by an original information filed in his individual case and assigned an individual docket number. He contends that the lack of jurisdiction rendered the judgment in his case invalid on its face, and therefore, the writ should issue to effect his release from custody. The original information charging Myron was filed in the Ashley County Circuit Court on November 30, 2006, and assigned docket number CR-2006-197-4. On December 28, 2006, an amended information was filed that added Anderson's name. The amended information bore the docket number CR-2006-197-4 A & B. (Anderson was designated defendant "B.")
Claims of a defective information that raise a valid jurisdictional issue are cognizable in a habeas proceeding. Philyaw ,
Here, Anderson did not allege that the amended felony information that charged him was defective in that it failed to apprise him of the charges against him. Because his allegation did not rest on an assertion of trial error and a lack of due process based on a flaw in the information, Anderson's argument that he was never charged with the offenses would, if established, be a ground for the writ.
Anderson's argument that he was never charged fails because he did not establish that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to enter the judgment of conviction merely because he was charged in an amendment to the felony information that charged Myron. A circuit court has subject-matter jurisdiction to hear and determine cases involving violations of criminal statutes. Love v. Kelley ,
In his habeas petition, Anderson relied as authority for his argument on *519Whitehead v. State ,
Affirmed.
Hart, J., concurs.
Josephine Linker Hart, Justice, concurring.
I agree that the circuit court did not clearly err in denying Mr. Anderson's habeas petition. It is readily apparent that he was properly charged and that the amended information satisfied due process. I wright separately, however, I wish to distance myself from the all-too-familiar dicta that suggests that the writ of habeas corpus is an extremely narrow remedy.
Under Arkansas Code Annotated section 16-112-103(a)(1), the writ is available to any person who has demonstrated that there is "probable cause to believe he or she is detained without lawful authority, is imprisoned when by law he or she is entitled to bail, or who has alleged actual innocence of the offense or offenses for which the person was convicted." In my view, the boiler-plate dicta that the majority has included in its opinion, to wit, "Unless the petitioner can show that the trial court lacked jurisdiction or that the commitment was invalid on its face, there is no basis for a finding that a writ of habeas corpus should issue," grossly understates the situations in which the writ may be appropriate. Detention without lawful authority is not a concept that can be folded into a neat little box, as suggested by the majority and as stated in innumerable cases that summarily dispose of habeas appeals filed by pro se inmates. In truth, the circumstances constituting unlawful detention are limited only by man's imagination when it is applied to the time-honored pursuit of man's inhumanity to man.
I concur.