Friend v. Norris

• Decision Date: 01 December 2005
• Docket Number: No. 05-03.,05-03.
• Parties: Bobby Michael FRIEND, Appellant, v. Larry NORRIS, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction, Appellee.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

219 S.W.3d 123

Bobby Michael FRIEND, Appellant, v. Larry NORRIS, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction, Appellee.

No. 05-03.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

December 1, 2005.

Appellant, pro se.

No response.

PER CURIAM.

Bobby Michael Friend is incarcerated in the Arkansas Department of Correction and brings this appeal of an order denying his pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus entered in Jefferson County Circuit Court. A judgment and commitment order entered in Sevier County Circuit Court July 28, 1994, reflects that appellant Friend entered a negotiated plea of guilty to each of two counts of capital murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. This court had previously reversed appellant's convictions and death sentence on those charges, which arise from the beating deaths of appellant's parents, and had remanded for a new trial. Friend v. State, 315 Ark. 143, 865 S.W.2d 275 (1993). Appellant has twice previously filed pleadings alleging grounds for post-conviction relief that would have been cognizable under a petition pursuant to Ark. R.Crim. P. 37.1. In each instance, this court found in separate unpublished opinions that the pleadings requesting postconviction relief were not timely filed. Friend v. State, CR 96-2, 1996 WL 144127 (Ark. March 18, 1996); Friend v. State, CR 98-55, 1998 WL 293986 (Ark. June 4, 1998).

Appellant's sole point on appeal is that the trial court erred in finding appellant had failed to demonstrate the commitment was invalid or that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to sentence appellant to life without parole. He asserts that his plea was invalid because the trial court did not make sufficient inquiry to establish the factual basis for his plea, alleging that the factual basis stated did not sustain a basis for more than second-degree murder and the trial court therefore lacked authority to sentence him to life without parole. The circuit court found in the order dismissing the habeas corpus petition that the petitioner had failed to state a claim upon which habeas relief could issue. We agree.

A writ of habeas corpus is proper when a judgment of conviction is invalid on its face or when a circuit court lacked jurisdiction over the cause. Davis v. Reed, 316 Ark. 575, 577, 873 S.W.2d 524, 525 (1994). Unless a 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. Birchett v. State, 303 Ark. 220, 795 S.W.2d 53 (1990) (per curiam). The petitioner must plead either the facial invalidity or the lack of jurisdiction and make a "showing, by affidavit or other evidence, [of] probable cause to believe" he is illegally detained. Ark. Code Ann. 16-112-103 (1987). See Wallace v. Willock, 301 Ark. 69, 781 S.W.2d 484 (1989); see also Mackey v. Lockhart, 307 Ark. 321, 819 S.W.2d 702 (1991).

It is true that we will treat allegations of void or illegal sentences similar to the way that we treat problems of subject-matter jurisdiction. Taylor v. State, 354 Ark. 450, 125 S.W.3d 174 (2003). Detention for an illegal period of time is precisely what a writ of habeas corpus is designed to correct. Id. at 455, 125 S.W.3d at 178. However, a habeas corpus proceeding does not afford a prisoner an opportunity to retry his case, and is not a substitute for direct appeal or postconviction relief. Meny v. Norris, 340 Ark. 418, 420, 13 S.W.3d...