Penn v. State, CR

• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: HICKMAN
• Citation: Penn v. State, 282 Ark. 571, 670 S.W.2d 426 (Ark. 1984)
• Decision Date: 04 June 1984
• Docket Number: No. CR,CR
• Parties: , 46 A.L.R.4th 461 Allen Lynn PENN, Petitioner, v. STATE of Arkansas, Respondent. 84-43.

Page 426

670 S.W.2d 426

282 Ark. 571, 46 A.L.R.4th 461

Allen Lynn PENN, Petitioner, v. STATE of Arkansas, Respondent.

No. CR 84-43.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

June 4, 1984.

William R. Simpson, Jr., Public Defender, Little Rock, for petitioner.

HICKMAN, Justice.

Penn was convicted by a jury of the murder of Anthony Faherty on September 21, 1983, and received a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. He filed an appeal with us, and the record has been lodged. A petition has been filed here for a writ of error coram nobis or to invest the trial court to hear a motion for a new trial. The ground given is a sworn statement made by Donald Lewis, who is evidently a prisoner at the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Lewis' affidavit is attached to the petition.

Penn is granted permission to file this petition with the trial court seeking a writ of error coram nobis, and the trial court is reinvested with jurisdiction to hear the petition, conduct a hearing and decide whether the writ is in order. If the court grants the writ, the remedy is a new trial; if it denies the writ, the remedy is a writ of certiorari. See Woods, The Writ of Error Coram Nobis in Arkansas, 8 Ark.L.Bul. 15 (1940).

Our action is a departure from our past decisions, but one that is proper at this time. However, our decision is strictly limited to the facts in this case. A writ of error coram nobis is an excessively rare remedy, more known for its denial than its approval. Literally, coram nobis means our court, in our presence, before us. The essence of the writ of error coram nobis is that it is addressed to the very court which renders the judgment where injustice is alleged to have been done, rather than to an appellate or other court. Black's Law Dictionary 304 (1979). The writ is granted only when there is an error of fact extrinsic to the record such as insanity at the time of trial, a coerced plea of guilty, or material evidence withheld by the prosecutor. It must be a fact which might have resulted in a different verdict. In simple terms, this writ is a legal procedure to fill a gap in the legal system--to provide relief that was not available at trial because a fact exists which was not known at that time and relief is not available on appeal because it is not in the record. Therefore, the petition in this case will have to be addressed to the trial court instead of this court. We note here that there exists in criminal cases the remedy of obtaining a new trial for newly discovered evidence but that motion must be made within the time in which a notice of appeal has to be filed. See A.R.Cr.P. Rule 36.22 and Halfacre v. State, 265 Ark. 378, 578 S.W.2d 237 (1979).

The question raised by this petition is one of those which occasionally arise when coram nobis is sought: a person confesses to a crime after another has been found guilty of that same crime. Should a petition be entertained or not? In the past we have refused to hear petitions under such circumstances, holding that the remedy was one best addressed by the legislature or through clemency. Smith v. State, 200 Ark. 767, 140 S.W.2d 675 (1940). In Gross v. State, 242 Ark. 142, 412 S.W.2d 279 (1967), we made the statement, "It [a writ of error coram nobis] is never a means of remedy upon the grounds of newly discovered evidence," citing Howard v. State, 58 Ark. 229, 24 S.W. 8 (1893).

We have on several occasions recently denied petitions for writ of error coram nobis, but we have always recognized the existence of the remedy. In Troglin v. State, 257 Ark. 644, 519 S.W.2d 740 (1975), we set out the guidelines for granting the writ. They are:

(1) The function of the writ of coram nobis is to secure relief from a judgment rendered while there existed some fact which would have prevented its rendition if it had been known to the trial court and which, through no negligence or fault of the defendant, was not brought forward before rendition of judgment;

(2) Coram nobis proceedings are attended by a strong presumption that the judgment of conviction is valid. The court is not required to accept at face value the allegations of the petition;

(3) Due diligence is required in making application for relief, and, in the absence of a valid excuse for delay the petition will be denied; and,

(4) The mere naked allegation that a constitutional right has been invaded will not suffice. The application should make a full disclosure of specific facts relied upon and not merely state conclusions as to the nature of such facts.

Troglin's petition was denied because it was filed 22 years after his conviction. See Walker v. State, 251 Ark. 182, 471 S.W.2d 536 (1971); Wallace v. State, 251 Ark. 445, 446, 473 S.W.2d 184 (1971); Dement v State, 236 Ark. 851, 370 S.W.2d 191 (1963); Steel v. State, 248 Ark. 159, 450 S.W.2d 545 (1970).

Criminal law and procedure in criminal cases have changed dramatically in the last two decades. Due process of law is not the same as it was 30 years ago or even 10 years ago. Thirty years ago a writer discussed at length coram nobis in Arkansas and some quotes from his article are especially appropriate:

The growth of the writ is attributable, certainly, to a variety of causes. A great force in its development has been that growing concept, due process of law. The federal courts now show little hesitation in overturning state convictions if a state has no remedy or refuses to exercise it where a defendant has been denied due process of law. And where the federal decisions reflect a procedural gap in a...