Jones v. State, 2014 Ark. 67

Charles Edward Jones was convicted by a Pulaski County jury in 2009 of four counts of rape and sentenced to four consecutive 480-month terms; the Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed.
In 2013 Jones, while incarcerated in Pulaski County, filed a pro se habeas corpus petition in the trial-court docket for his criminal case.
He alleged lack of probable cause for his arrest, defects in the felony information, use of unsworn/unsigned affidavits pretrial, and violations of due process and equal protection.
The trial court denied the petition; Jones appealed pro se and also moved to file a belated reply brief.
The Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed, holding the petition failed to allege facial invalidity of the judgment or lack of jurisdiction—the only proper grounds for habeas relief—and deemed the motion to file a belated reply brief moot.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether illegal arrest vitiates conviction	Jones: lack of probable cause for arrest invalidates custody	State: illegal arrest alone does not defeat court jurisdiction or a valid conviction	Held: Illegal arrest alone is not a basis for habeas relief; jurisdiction unaffected
Sufficiency/form of felony information	Jones: information failed to advise him of charges	State: objections to form must be made before trial; not jurisdictional here	Held: Defective-information claim not shown to defeat jurisdiction; should have been raised earlier
Use of unsworn/unsigned affidavits in pretrial proceedings	Jones: procedural defects in affidavits violated rights	State: these are trial or pretrial evidentiary errors, not facially voiding the judgment	Held: Such factual/evidentiary complaints are not cognizable in habeas corpus
Due process and equal protection claims	Jones: trial errors deprived him of constitutional rights	State: claims allege trial error and are cognizable on direct appeal or postconviction, not habeas	Held: Due-process/equal-protection assertions do not establish facial invalidity or lack of jurisdiction; habeas denied

Davis v. Reed, 316 Ark. 575, 873 S.W.2d 524 (habeas proper only when judgment invalid on its face or court lacked jurisdiction)
Young v. Norris, 365 Ark. 219, 226 S.W.3d 797 (burden on habeas petitioner to plead facial invalidity or lack of jurisdiction and show probable cause of illegal detention)
Singleton v. State, 256 Ark. 756, 510 S.W.2d 283 (court’s jurisdiction does not depend on validity of arrest)
Biggers v. State, 317 Ark. 414, 878 S.W.2d 717 (illegal arrest alone does not vitiate a valid conviction)
Prince v. State, 304 Ark. 692, 805 S.W.2d 46 (failure to object to information below precludes appellate review of its sufficiency)
England v. State, 234 Ark. 421, 352 S.W.2d 582 (proper time to challenge charging instrument is before trial)
Jones v. State, 297 Ark. 485, 763 S.W.2d 81 (court would have treated a jurisdictional defect differently; failure to object is significant)
Friend v. State, 364 Ark. 315, 219 S.W.3d 123 (void or illegal sentences treated similarly to subject-matter jurisdiction questions)
Taylor v. State, 354 Ark. 450, 125 S.W.3d 174 (distinguishing jurisdictional defects from mere trial error)
Meny v. Norris, 340 Ark. 418, 13 S.W.3d 143 (habeas not a vehicle to retry the case or substitute for direct appeal/postconviction relief)