Henry v. State, CR
| Decision Date | 21 April 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. CR,CR |
| Citation | 708 S.W.2d 88,288 Ark. 592 |
| Parties | Billy Gale HENRY, Petitioner, v. STATE of Arkansas, Respondent. 82-52. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
PRO SE PETITION TO PROCEED IN THE
CIRCUIT COURT OF WASHINGTON COUNTY (CR 81-158)
PURSUANT TO CRIMINAL PROCEDURE RULE 37
Petitioner Billy Gale Henry was found guilty by a jury of being an accomplice to capital murder and was sentenced to death. He was also found guilty of the offense of hindering apprehension or prosecution of another person and sentenced as a habitual offender to an additional term of 40 years imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Correction. We affirmed both convictions but reduced the sentence for capital murder to life without parole. Henry v. State, 278 Ark. 478, 647 S.W.2d 419 (1983). Petitioner now seeks permission to proceed in circuit court for postconviction relief pursuant to Ark.R.Crim.P. Rule 37.
Petitioner was committed in 1981. His petition for postconviction relief is therefore untimely under Rule 37.2(c) since it was not filed within three years of the date of commitment, unless he has stated some ground for relief which would render the judgment of conviction absolutely void. Collins v. State, 271 Ark. 825, 611 S.W.2d 182, cert. denied, 452 U.S. 973, 101 S.Ct. 3127, 69 L.Ed.2d 984 (1981). He raises two related issues, incompetence to stand trial and lack of jurisdiction by virtue of his competence, which he asserts would void the judgment in his case and argues that the court should have ordered sua sponte a hearing on his competence. As he fails totally to establish that he was incompetent, the petition is dismissed for failure to state a ground sufficient to void the convictions.
It is clear that a person whose mental condition is such that he lacks the capacity to understand the nature and object of the proceedings against him, to consult with counsel and to assist counsel in preparing his defense may not be subjected to a trial. Drope v. Missouri, 420 U.S. 162, 95 S.Ct. 896, 43 L.Ed.2d 103 (1975). If the convicted defendant did not raise the issue of his competence at trial, he may nevertheless assert his incompetence to stand trial in a petition for postconviction relief since a person who is incompetent cannot knowingly and intelligently waive his right to have the court determine his capacity to stand trial. See Pate v. Robinson, 383 U.S. 375, 86 S.Ct. 836, 15 L.Ed.2d 815 (1966). The petitioner who asserts his incompetence for the first time in a petition for postconviction relief, however, has the heavy burden of demonstrating with facts that he was not competent at the time of trial. The mere fact that he can document a history of mental health problems or show that counsel could have framed a defense of incompetence, but chose not to do so, does not in itself entitle a petitioner to a new trial under our postconviction rule. Glick v. State, 286 Ark. 133, 689 S.W.2d 559 (1985); Dudley v. State, 285 Ark. 160, 685...
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Robertson v. State
...could have argued incompetence, that showing, without more, is not sufficient to support postconviction relief. See Henry v. State, 288 Ark. 592, 708 S.W.2d 88 (1986). Here, appellant only provided conclusory statements without substantiation that did not demonstrate any error on the part o......
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Smith v. State
...at the time of his guilty plea. Matthews v. State , 332 Ark. 661, 666, 966 S.W.2d 888, 891 (1998) (per curiam); Henry v. State , 288 Ark. 592, 708 S.W.2d 88 (1986) (per curiam). Smith did not meet that burden.Smith's assertion that counsel failed to investigate his case was also devoid of f......
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Stewart v. State, CR
...but was not, due to the professional lapses of defense counsel. Smith v. State, 290 Ark. 90, 717 S.W.2d 193 (1986); Henry v. State, 288 Ark. 592, 708 S.W.2d 88 (1986); Walker v. State, 277 Ark. 284, 641 S.W.2d 19 (1982). Moreover, counsel is presumed to have performed competently, and the p......
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...conviction and may be asserted in a Rule 37 petition despite the passage of the three year statute of limitations. See Henry v. State, 288 Ark. 592, 708 S.W.2d 88 (1988). In response, Lockhart contends that the district court did not err in holding that Wright was procedurally barred from r......