State v. Circuit Court of Lincoln County

• Decision Date: 21 January 1999
• Docket Number: No. CR,CR
• Citation: 984 S.W.2d 412,336 Ark. 122
• Parties: STATE of Arkansas, Petitioner, v. CIRCUIT COURT OF LINCOLN COUNTY, Respondent. 98-855.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Page 412

984 S.W.2d 412

336 Ark. 122

STATE of Arkansas, Petitioner, v. CIRCUIT COURT OF LINCOLN COUNTY, Respondent.

No. CR 98-855.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

Jan. 21, 1999.

Sam T. Heuer, Little Rock, for Appellant.

Winston Bryant, Attorney General, O. Milton Fine II, Special Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Little Rock, for Appellee.

ROBERT L. BROWN, Justice.

The State of Arkansas, as petitioner, prays that this court grant its petition for a writ of prohibition or, alternatively, writ of certiorari, directing the Circuit Court of Lincoln County to dismiss Murray Armstrong's petition for Rule 37 relief. We grant the petition and direct that the writ of prohibition be issued.

Murray Armstrong was charged with multiple counts of theft of property and forgery in Lincoln, Bradley, and Cleveland Counties. Each county is part of a separate judicial district. Lincoln County is part of the Eleventh Judicial District West, Bradley County is part of the Tenth Judicial District, and Cleveland County is located in the Thirteenth Judicial District. On June 11, 1997, the State through the prosecutor of the Eleventh Judicial District West and Armstrong moved to transfer the charges filed against Armstrong in Lincoln County Circuit Court to Cleveland County Circuit Court in the Thirteenth Judicial District. ¹ This motion to transfer was apparently filed pursuant to Ark. R.Crim. P. 28.4, though that rule is not specifically cited. An order granting the transfer of the Lincoln County charges was entered that same date by Special Judge John Cole, who had been assigned to the Lincoln County Circuit Court after the regular judges recused.

On June 12, 1997, Armstrong and the prosecuting attorneys for the Tenth, Eleventh West, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts executed a Statement of Plea wherein Armstrong acknowledged that he faced twenty-two counts of theft of property in Lincoln County. As part of the Statement of Plea, Armstrong specifically waived speedy-trial considerations for the charges filed in the three circuit courts in the three judicial districts. With respect to the twenty-two counts filed in Lincoln County, Armstrong pled guilty to seventeen counts, and five counts were nolle prossed by the prosecuting attorney.

On August 5, 1997, a judgment and commitment order was entered by the Cleveland County Circuit Court for the Lincoln County charges. That judgment noted a "change of venue" from Lincoln County to Cleveland County and provided for a sentence for all offenses of 1020 months. On October 14, 1997, Armstrong filed separate petitions for Rule 37 relief in Lincoln, Cleveland, and Bradley Counties. One of the grounds for relief asserted in the Rule 37 petition filed in Lincoln County Circuit Court is that the Cleveland County Circuit Court did not have jurisdiction to impose a sentence for charges emanating from Lincoln County because that county is outside the territorial boundaries of the Thirteenth Judicial District. As a result, Armstrong prayed that the Lincoln County convictions be set aside and vacated.

On June 19, 1998, the State moved to dismiss the Rule 37 petition filed in Lincoln County Circuit Court for the reason that that court neither convicted nor sentenced Armstrong and, thus, lacked jurisdiction over the petition for postconviction relief. The motion was denied by Special Judge Cole on July 7, 1998. On July 14, 1998, the State filed a petition for writ of prohibition, or, alternatively, certiorari, in which it contended that under Ark. R.Crim. P. 37.1(d), a person seeking Rule 37 relief may only do so by filing a petition "[i]n the court which imposed the sentence." It is that petition which we now consider in this opinion.

A writ of prohibition is extraordinary relief which is appropriate only when the trial court is wholly without jurisdiction. Henderson Specialties, Inc. v. Boone County Circuit Court, 334 Ark. 111, 971 S.W.2d 234 (1998); Nucor Holding Co. v. Rinkines, 326 Ark. 217, 931 S.W.2d 426 (1996). The writ is appropriate only when there is no other remedy, such as an appeal, available. Henderson Specialties, Inc. v. Boone County Circuit Court, supra; West Memphis Sch. Dist. No. 4 v. Circuit Court, 316 Ark. 290, 871 S.W.2d 368 (1994) (quoting National Sec. Fire & Cas. Co. v. Poskey, 309 Ark. 206, 828 S.W.2d 836 (1992)). When deciding whether prohibition will lie, we confine our review to the pleadings in the case. The Wise Company, Inc. v. Clay Circuit, 315 Ark. 333, 869 S.W.2d 6 (1993).

Jurisdiction is the power of the court to hear and determine the subject matter in controversy between the parties. State v. Watson, 307 Ark. 333, 820 S.W.2d 59 (1991). Here, the question raised is whether Lincoln County Circuit Court, which was not the sentencing court, has jurisdiction to decide a Rule 37 petition for postconviction relief. We conclude that it does not.

The controlling rule is Ark. R.Crim. P. 37.1(d), which reads:

A petitioner in custody under sentence of a circuit court claiming a right to be released, ... or ...

(d) that the sentence is otherwise subject to collateral attack; may file a verified petition in the court which imposed the sentence, praying that the sentence be vacated or corrected. (Emphasis added.)

The Rule 37 petition in the instant case manifestly was not filed in the sentencing court. We view this as a fact not in dispute. As described above, the Lincoln County charges were transferred to Cleveland County Circuit Court, which sentenced Armstrong on those charges and entered judgment against him. Filing the petition in Lincoln County Circuit Court violates the clear terms of the Rule, and we hold that that court, not being the sentencing court, is wholly without jurisdiction to hear and decide the matter.

Furthermore, we consider the requirement of Rule 37.1(d) that the sentencing court hear petitions for postconviction relief to make perfect sense. It is the sentencing court that is familiar with the history of the case and the proceedings that resulted in the conviction and sentence. Accordingly, that is the court which should be deciding postconviction petitions.

Armstrong claims, however, that a writ of prohibition cannot lie following the denial of a motion to dismiss. We give this argument little credence. To be sure, a writ of prohibition is not the proper remedy for appealing the issue of whether a trial court erred in denying a motion to dismiss. See West Memphis Sch. Dist. No. 4 v. Circuit Court, supra. But the writ is always appropriate when a trial court is operating wholly without jurisdiction to do so.

In sum, the Judgment and Commitment Order for the Lincoln County charges was entered by the Cleveland County Circuit Court. That court, according to the judgment, was the sentencing court--not the Lincoln County Circuit Court--and that decides the jurisdictional issue.

Armstrong goes farther, though, and contests whether the Cleveland County Circuit Court in the Thirteenth Judicial District had subject-matter jurisdiction to hear the Lincoln County charges under the Arkansas Constitution, state statutes, and this court's caselaw, despite his waiver of venue. He makes a valid point about a circuit court's doubtful jurisdiction over charges filed outside of the territorial boundaries of the court's judicial district. See Ark. Const. art. 2, § 10; Ark.Code Ann. § 16-13-210 (1987); Waddle v. Sargent, 313 Ark. 539, 855 S.W.2d 919 (1993). See also Kemp v. State, 324 Ark. 178, 919 S.W.2d 943 (1996); Davis v. Reed, 316 Ark. 575, 873 S.W.2d 524 (1994). But his argument does not really assist him in withstanding the prohibition petition.

Article 2, Section 10, of the Arkansas Constitution provides that:

In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the county in which the crime shall have been committed; provided that the venue may be changed to any other county of the judicial district in which the indictment is found....

Ark. Const. art. 2, § 10. State statutes are in a similar vein. See, e.g., Ark.Code Ann. § 16-13-210 (1987). Section 16-13-210 provides that a circuit judge who is "physically present in the geographical area of the judicial district which he serves as judge" may adjudicate any matter over which he or she presides.

This court has held that disposition of a criminal charge which occurs outside the territorial boundaries of the judicial district in which the charge was brought is void. See, e.g., Waddle v. Sargent, supra. In Waddle, the defendant was charged in Faulkner County Circuit Court with rape and capital murder. Faulkner County is located in the Twentieth Judicial District. After the judge for that circuit court disqualified from the case, a special judge from the Eleventh Judicial District was assigned to hear the case. A plea hearing, where the defendant pled guilty, was then conducted in Arkansas County which was located in the Eleventh...