Michael Anderson v. Wendy Kelley, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction, 600 S.W.3d 544

Michael Anderson and his brother Myron were tried jointly; Michael was convicted in 2007 of five counts of terroristic act and one count of possession of a firearm by certain persons and sentenced as a habitual offender to an aggregate 1320 months.
Direct appeal affirmed by the Arkansas Court of Appeals. (Anderson v. State, 2010 Ark. App. 177.)
Anderson filed habeas petitions challenging his detention on grounds that his name was added by amendment to an information originally charging Myron, that the judgment used an incorrect docket number, and that being granted in forma pauperis required issuance of the writ.
He previously raised the amendment/charging argument in a 2018 habeas proceeding and this court rejected it in Anderson v. Kelley (2019), concluding amendment did not deprive the trial court of jurisdiction.
The Jefferson County Circuit Court denied Anderson’s 2019 habeas petition; the Supreme Court affirmed, holding Anderson failed to show facial invalidity of the judgment or lack of jurisdiction and that he had abused the writ by reasserting previously rejected claims.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether being charged only by amendment (not by a separate original information) deprived the trial court of jurisdiction	Anderson: he was never personally charged because his name was added via an amendment to Myron’s information	Kelley: amendment did not deprive subject-matter or personal jurisdiction; defendant’s commission of crimes in Ashley County sufficed	Court: Rejected — amendment did not strip jurisdiction; claim previously rejected; not cognizable in habeas absent jurisdictional defect
Whether an incorrect or ambiguous docket number in the judgment rendered the judgment invalid on its face	Anderson: judgment failed to enumerate offenses with correct docket number identifying him, so commitment is invalid	Kelley: judgment names Michael and uses docket designation with “B,” lists offenses and lawful sentences	Court: Rejected — judgment sufficiently identified Anderson and offenses; no facial invalidity shown
Whether granting leave to proceed in forma pauperis required issuance of the writ	Anderson: permission to proceed as a pauper showed petition merited the writ	Kelley: in forma pauperis only finds indigency and that the petition alleges a colorable claim; it does not itself grant the writ	Court: Rejected — indigency finding is not equivalent to issuance of habeas relief; petitioner failed to substantiate grounds for writ

Philyaw v. Kelley, 2015 Ark. 465 (habeas proper when judgment invalid on its face or trial court lacks jurisdiction)
Baker v. Norris, 369 Ark. 405 (trial-court jurisdiction defined; pleading requirements for habeas)
Williams v. Kelley, 2017 Ark. 200 (defects in information that are trial error are not cognizable in habeas)
Anderson v. Kelley, 2019 Ark. 6 (holding amendment adding Michael did not deprive trial court of jurisdiction)
Love v. Kelley, 2018 Ark. 206 (subject-matter jurisdiction exists to adjudicate criminal statute violations)
Johnson v. State, 298 Ark. 479 (personal jurisdiction where offense is committed in the county)
Watts v. Kelley, 2019 Ark. 207 (abuse-of-the-writ/res judicata principles in successive habeas petitions)