Henderson v. State, 2014 Ark. 180

Harold Henderson was convicted in 1986 of first-degree murder and first-degree battery and sentenced to life and twenty years; this court affirmed the convictions.
In 2013, while incarcerated in Lee County, Henderson filed a pro se petition in the Lee County Circuit Court seeking writs of error coram nobis and habeas corpus, alleging actual innocence, trial error, insufficient evidence, ineffective assistance of counsel, and improper charging.
The Lee County Circuit Court dismissed the petition, and Henderson appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court and moved for appointment of counsel.
The Supreme Court concluded the appeal could not succeed and dismissed it as frivolous; the motion for counsel was rendered moot.
The Court held that coram-nobis relief must be sought first in this Court (for leave to proceed in the trial court where judgment was entered), so the Lee County court lacked authority to entertain Henderson’s coram-nobis claims.
As to habeas corpus, Henderson failed to allege facial invalidity of the judgment or lack of trial-court jurisdiction (or probable cause under Ark. Code §16-112-103), so he did not state a ground for habeas relief.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Proper forum for coram-nobis	Henderson sought coram-nobis relief in Lee County circuit court	State argued coram-nobis must be authorized by this Court before trial court acts	Court held coram-nobis petition was filed in wrong forum; Lee County court lacked authority
Sufficiency of habeas petition	Henderson claimed actual innocence, trial error, insufficient evidence, ineffective assistance, improper charging	State argued habeas requires facial invalidity of judgment or lack of jurisdiction and probable-cause showing for release	Court held allegations challenged trial errors and sufficiency, not facial invalidity or jurisdiction, so habeas relief improper
Jurisdictional defect claim	Henderson did not assert lack of subject-matter jurisdiction	State maintained trial court clearly had jurisdiction over criminal matters	Court held no showing of lack of jurisdiction; jurisdictional challenge not raised
Appealability / appointment of counsel	Henderson sought counsel to pursue appeal of denial of postconviction relief	State argued appeal could not succeed and counsel motion was moot	Court dismissed appeal as without merit and denied appointment of counsel as moot

Henderson v. State, 291 Ark. 138, 722 S.W.2d 842 (affirming original conviction) (background precedent)
Davis v. State, 2014 Ark. 45 (appeal may be dismissed when appellant cannot prevail)
Cherry v. State, 2014 Ark. 81 (coram-nobis requires leave of this Court before trial court may act)
Sparks v. State, 2012 Ark. 464 (trial court in county of custody lacks authority to issue coram-nobis for judgment rendered elsewhere)
Buchanan v. State, 2014 Ark. 105 (petitioner bears burden to show trial-court lacked jurisdiction or judgment is facially invalid in habeas)
Culbertson v. State, 2012 Ark. 112 (same)
Bliss v. Hobbs, 2012 Ark. 315 (habeas is not substitute for direct appeal or timely postconviction relief)
Friend v. State, 364 Ark. 315, 219 S.W.3d 123 (treatment of void or illegal sentences akin to jurisdictional problems)