Jones v. State
Jones v. State
Opinion of the Court
Appellant Tyrun Lamont Jones appeals the denial by the circuit court of his petition for writ of habeas corpus. Now before us is Jones's motion for an extension of time to file his brief-in-chief. As there was clearly no ground stated in the petition on which a writ of habeas corpus could be issued, the appeal is dismissed, and the motion is moot. A circuit court's decision on a petition for writ of habeas corpus will be upheld unless it is clearly erroneous. Hobbs v. Gordon ,
A writ of habeas corpus is proper when a judgment of conviction is invalid on its face or when a trial court lacks jurisdiction over the cause. Philyaw v. Kelley ,
In 2016, Jones was found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder and felon in possession of a firearm for which an aggregate sentence of 300 months' imprisonment was imposed with a firearm enhancement of 180 months' imprisonment. The Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed.
The assertions raised by Jones as grounds for the writ that concern the investigation of the case by the police, the availability of other witnesses who could have exonerated him, and the strength of the evidence against him constitute a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the judgment of conviction. It is well settled that habeas proceedings are not a means to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence in a case. Barber v. Kelley ,
With respect to Jones's conclusory allegation that both the trial judge and his attorney had a conflict of interest in his case, even if the allegations had been supported by facts, the claim concerning the trial judge could have been raised at trial and settled there. Any allegation concerning his attorney could, and should, have been raised under Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37.1. See Lee v. State ,
Appeal dismissed; motion moot.
Hart, J., concurs.
Josephine Linker Hart, Justice, concurring.
I concur. While it is proper to dismiss Jones's appeal, I must write against this court's practice of dismissing appeals for purported lack of merit when it has not even received the appellant's brief. Jones has filed a motion to extend the briefing time, and that is the only thing this court should be addressing at this juncture. Even so, literally all that Jones's motion consists of is "The appellant request [sic] for additional time to file his brief and addendum." This alone is not good cause *103to grant an extension, and the motion is properly denied. Accordingly, this court is free to dismiss Jones's appeal for failure to file a brief.
The court of appeals notes in its opinion that the conviction for possession of a firearm by certain persons was not at issue in the direct appeal.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Tyrun Lamont JONES v. STATE of Arkansas
- Cited By
- 9 cases
- Status
- Published