Korey Rabion v. Wendy Kelley, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction, 2020 Ark. 375

Korey Rabion was convicted by jury of two counts of negligent homicide, leaving the scene causing injury or death, driving on a suspended license, and third-offense driving while intoxicated (DWI).
Sentences: 480 months on each negligent-homicide count (habitual-offender), 180 months for leaving the scene (consecutive to negligent-homicide), and short jail terms for the misdemeanor counts (misdemeanor sentences concurrent).
Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions and sentences on direct appeal.
Rabion filed a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus in the county of his incarceration under Ark. Code Ann. § 16-112-101, alleging unlawful warrantless arrest, unlawful pretrial detention, defective information/insufficient notice, double jeopardy, and an illegal DWI sentence.
The circuit court found no probable cause to issue the writ; the Supreme Court affirmed, reasoning that habeas relief is limited to facial invalidity of the commitment or lack of jurisdiction and many of Rabion’s claims amount to trial error or are moot (e.g., the one-day DWI sentence already expired).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether habeas corpus is available for alleged warrantless arrest/due-process violations	Rabion: arrest without warrant and related defects violated due process/equal protection	Appellee: arrest and trial defects are trial error and do not attack facial validity or jurisdiction	Denied — arrest/related trial errors are not cognizable in habeas when judgment is facially valid and court had jurisdiction
Whether unlawful pretrial detention supports habeas relief	Rabion: unlawfully detained pre-plea/arraignment	Appellee: pretrial-detention conditions do not affect jurisdiction or legality of sentence	Denied — such claims do not show lack of jurisdiction or facial invalidity
Whether a defective information or lack of notice invalidates the commitment	Rabion: information defective / insufficient notice	Appellee: any defects are trial error; Rabion was arraigned, had counsel, and tried by jury	Denied — defective information that does not implicate sentence legality is not a jurisdictional defect
Double jeopardy and alleged illegal DWI third-offense sentence	Rabion: DWI conviction duplicates negligent-homicide; one-day DWI sentence is illegal (minimum 90 days)	Appellee: double-jeopardy issue affects only the lesser DWI conviction; the one-day sentence has expired so no present detention	Denied (moot) — DWI jail term expired so habeas would have no effect; relief unavailable on moot or past sentences

Foreman v. State, 571 S.W.3d 484 (Ark. 2019) (writ proper when judgment invalid on its face or trial court lacked jurisdiction)
Baker v. Norris, 255 S.W.3d 466 (Ark. 2007) (definition and limits of jurisdiction)
Johnson v. State, 769 S.W.2d 3 (Ark. 1989) (trial court with personal and subject-matter jurisdiction may render judgment)
McArthur v. State, 577 S.W.3d 385 (Ark. 2019) (habeas inquiry limited to face of commitment order)
Hobbs v. Gordon, 434 S.W.3d 364 (Ark. 2014) (standard of review for habeas petitions)
Grimes v. State, 562 S.W.3d 215 (Ark. 2018) (flaws in manner of arrest do not entitle convicted defendant to habeas relief)
Taylor v. State, 125 S.W.3d 174 (Ark. 2003) (habeas corrects detention for illegal period)
Ballew v. State, 766 S.W.2d 14 (Ark. 1989) (double-jeopardy analysis when lesser-included offense duplicates greater offense)
Wilson v. State, 640 S.W.2d 440 (Ark. 1982) (court may set aside less serious conviction when convictions cannot stand together)
Ex parte Rubly, 261 S.W.2d 4 (Ark. 1953) (courts should not decide issues that cannot affect the matter in issue)