Hallman v. State
Hallman v. State
Opinion of the Court
Petitioner Marlon Glenn Hallman asks this court to reinvest jurisdiction in the trial court so that he may proceed with a petition for writ of error coram nobis and to recall the mandate in his direct appeal. Hallman contends that his conviction for kidnapping was invalid and the sentence on that conviction was an illegal sentence that the trial court was without authority to impose. Hallman also filed a petition requesting permission to proceed as a pauper in the matter. Although Hallman's sentence for kidnapping is illegal and void, we deny his request to proceed with a petition for the writ, and we do not reinvest jurisdiction in the trial court or recall the mandate. However, we grant a part of the relief that Hallman requests by holding that the judgment is void to the extent that it imposed a sentence for the charge of kidnapping. The petition for leave to proceed as a pauper is moot.
Hallman and his codefendants, Tywanna Faye Martin and Henry Jewel Harris, were tried together on charges that the three of them, along with a fourth codefendant who was tried separately, had kidnapped Calvin Earl Smith from a restaurant in Little Rock, beat him, and then drowned him in the Arkansas River. Hallman and Martin were both convicted of capital murder and kidnapping, and each received sentences of life imprisonment without parole for capital murder and twenty years for kidnapping. Hallman and Martin filed a joint appeal, and this court affirmed the judgment. Hallman v. State ,
In the instant petition to reinvest jurisdiction, Hallman would have this court allow him to file a petition in the trial court seeking the writ of error coram nobis, or recall the mandate so that the trial court might conduct new sentencing proceedings, based on his claim that his kidnapping sentence was illegal and the judgment was facially invalid as to that conviction. He appears to wish this court to issue a new mandate that would affirm the judgment only for the murder conviction and void the judgment as to the kidnapping conviction.
Hallman indicates, correctly, that this court has previously considered this same issue concerning his codefendant Martin's request to proceed with a petition under Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37.1 (Repl. 1977 & Supp. 1979). Martin v. State ,
*307(per curiam). In that case, we determined that the lesser offense was subsumed by the capital-murder conviction, and we set aside the kidnapping conviction as void.
Hallman has misconstrued that case, in that it affirmed the denial of a petition for the writ. The writ will lie only to correct errors of fact and not errors of law, and the appropriate remedy under the writ is a new trial. See Smith v. State ,
While the State does not directly concede the point, it acknowledges in its brief that this court held in Martin that the applicable statute-which, despite the lack of an appropriate concession, is precisely the same statute that is applicable in this case-did not authorize the trial court to sentence the defendant for both kidnapping and capital murder.
As the State notes in its brief, Hallman's desire to have the trial court correct the judgment filed in that court to reflect that his kidnapping conviction is void is one that he may pursue more directly *308through a petition under Arkansas Code Annotated section 16-90-111 (Repl. 2016). He may do so without this court reinvesting jurisdiction in the trial court to do so or recalling the mandate in his direct appeal. The general rule is that if the original sentence is illegal, even though partially executed, the sentencing court may correct it. Bangs v. State ,
Petition to reinvest jurisdiction and to recall the mandate denied; kidnapping sentence void; petition for leave to proceed in forma pauperis moot.
The legislature later amended the controlling statutes to authorize sentencing on both the charged felony and the underlying felony. See
The State argues that a lack of diligence on Hallman's part is sufficient reason to deny Hallman coram nobis relief. As noted, the relief sought here is not relief appropriate for issuance of the writ, where diligence is a factor. As this court noted in Martin , the claim Hallman makes in this case, that his sentence is illegal, is a claim that may be considered by this court at any time through a request for postconviction relief.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Marlon Glenn HALLMAN v. STATE of Arkansas
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published