Ellis v. State
| Decision Date | 02 December 1968 |
| Docket Number | No. 5388,5388 |
| Citation | 434 S.W.2d 275,245 Ark. 740 |
| Parties | Charles ELLIS, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Fred E. Briner, Benton, for appellant.
Joe Purcell, Atty. Gen., Don Langston, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.
This is a Criminal Procedure Rule No. 1 proceeding wherein Charles Ellis (appellant) contends his constitutional rights were violated when he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the penitentiary.
On September 1, 1958 appellant was charged with murder in the first degree for slaying A. Z. Cromwell in Ausust 26, 1958. Upon arraignment he pleaded guilty. A jury, upon hearing testimony, fixed his punishment as previously stated, and he began serving the sentence.
Approximately eight years later appellant filed a petition in circuit court of Saline County (where he had been sentenced) alleging his constitutional rights had been violated. His prayer was for 'immediate freedom'.
On March 11, 1968 the court appointed attorney Fred Briner to represent appellant, and a hearing was held on June 26 1968. At that time the criminal docket sheet of the 1958 trial was introduced in evidence, and appellant took the stand and testified at length.
At the close of the hearing the trial court denied the relief prayed for, and this appeal follows.
We have carefully examined each of the grounds urged here by appellant to show a violation of his constitutional rights, but find no merit in any of them.
The docket sheet showing the proceedings at the original trial in 1958 was introduced in evidence and it reveals: Appellant was represented by Attorney Wendell Hall; He entered a plea of guilty on December 8, 1958; On the same day he was found guilty by a jury, he waived time for pronouncement of judgment, was sentenced to life imprisonment. No other evidence was presented to the court except the testimony given by appellant.
The only grounds urged here by appellant for a reversal are those mentioned below.
A. Appellant testified that he was apprehended in New Mexico and returned to Arkansas by Lt. McDonald without an extradition hearing or waiver. We see no merit in this contention because this point was not raised when he pleaded guilty in 1958 after conferring with his attorney. Moreover, appellant does not contend he requested such hearing.
B. Here, it is contended his constitutional rights were violated because he 'was not arraigned before a magistrate for a period in excess...
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