Cromeans v. Hobbs

Cite as 2014 Ark. 318
SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS
No. CV-14-404
Opinion Delivered June 26, 2014
DANNY CROMEANS PRO SE MOTIONS TO USE
APPELLANT ORIGINAL RECORD
[JEFFERSON COUNTY CIRCUIT
V. COURT, NO. 35CV-14-52]
RAY HOBBS, DIRECTOR, ARKANSAS HONORABLE JODI RAINES DENNIS,
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION JUDGE
APPELLEE
APPEAL DISMISSED; MOTIONS
MOOT.
PER CURIAM
On February 3, 2014, appellant Danny Cromeans filed a pro se petition for writ of habeas
corpus in the Jefferson County Circuit Court. The circuit court dismissed the petition, and
appellant lodged an appeal from the order in this court. Now before us are appellant’s motions
to use the original record lodged in this appeal without reproducing portions of it.
The intent of the motions is not clear, but, in any event, we need not reach the merits of
them as the Jefferson County Circuit Court did not have jurisdiction to return a writ of habeas
corpus to effect appellant’s release from custody. See Lukach v. Hobbs, 2014 Ark. 106 (per
curiam); see also Chestang v. Hobbs, 2011 Ark. 404 (per curiam). An appeal of the denial of
postconviction relief, including an appeal from an order that denied a petition for writ of habeas
corpus, will not be permitted to go forward where it is clear that the appeal is without merit.
Glaze v. State, 2013 Ark. 458 (per curiam); Wilencewicz v. Hobbs, 2012 Ark. 230 (per curiam).
Any petition for writ of habeas corpus to effect the release of a prisoner is properly
addressed to the circuit court in the county in which the prisoner is held in custody, unless the
Cite as 2014 Ark. 318
petition is filed pursuant to Act 1780 of 2001. Wilencewicz, 2012 Ark. 230; Davis v. Hobbs, 2012
Ark. 167 (per curiam). Appellant’s petition was not filed under Act 1780, and the public records
of the Arkansas Department of Correction confirm that appellant was incarcerated in a facility
in Lincoln County when he filed the petition.1
A circuit court does not have jurisdiction to issue and make a returnable writ to release
a prisoner not in custody in that court’s jurisdiction. Lukach, 2014 Ark. 106; Fields v. State, 2013
Ark. 471 (per curiam); Chestang, 2011 Ark. 404. As the Jefferson County Circuit Court did not
have personal jurisdiction to effect appellant’s release, he could not prevail in this appeal. See
Davis v. Hobbs, 2013 Ark. 378 (per curiam).
Appeal dismissed; motions moot.
Danny Cromeans, pro se appellant.
No response.
1
As of the date of this opinion, appellant remains in custody in Lincoln County.
2