Perrian v. State, 2015 Ark. 424

In June 2013, Glen D. Perrian pled guilty in Desha County to aggravated robbery and theft; court sentenced him to 360 months and 120 months, to run consecutively.
Perrian filed a pro se sentence-reduction petition under Ark. Code Ann. § 16-90-111 on September 17, 2013 (within 90 days of judgment).
He later filed a second pro se postconviction petition on September 2, 2014 (invoking Ark. R. Crim. P. 37.1 and § 16-90-111) and a motion to withdraw his guilty plea on February 25, 2015.
The trial court denied all three requests in a single order on June 3, 2015; Perrian appealed and requested appointed counsel.
The Supreme Court reviewed whether any of Perrian’s claims had merit or were timely filed and whether Rule 37.1 controlled over § 16-90-111 for postconviction claims.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Timeliness under § 16-90-111 for 9/17/2013 petition	Perrian sought reduction for harsh/disproportionate sentence and mitigating facts	State: petition not a basis to reduce where claims raised after plea	§16-90-111 claim denied; petitioner’s stated grounds not cognizable to reduce sentence after guilty plea
Applicability of Rule 37.1 to later petitions	Perrian labeled later filings under §16-90-111 and Rule 37.1; sought ineffective assistance and insufficiency claims	State: petitions fall under Rule 37.1 and are subject to its timing/jurisdictional rules	Claims cognizable under Rule 37.1 are governed by that rule, superseding §16-90-111 for such claims
Rule 37.2(c)(i) timing for petitions after guilty plea	Perrian’s 2014 and 2015 petitions raised ineffective assistance and insufficiency but were filed >90 days after judgment	State: petitions untimely and trial court lacked jurisdiction	Held untimely under Rule 37.2(c)(i); trial court (and appellate) lacked jurisdiction to grant relief
Effect of guilty plea on claims of insufficiency/misadvice/proportionality	Perrian argued police misadvised him, sentence disproportionate, and that it was his "first time"	State: guilty plea waives insufficiency and many plea-related claims; comparisons irrelevant	By pleading guilty Perrian waived insufficiency claims; proportionality and alleged misadvice do not provide basis for relief post-plea

Baxter v. State, 324 Ark. 440, 922 S.W.2d 682 (court held codefendant’s sentence irrelevant to petitioner’s punishment)
Robinson v. State, 278 Ark. 516, 648 S.W.2d 444 (comparison to other sentences is not grounds for reduction)
Beverage v. State, 2015 Ark. 112, 458 S.W.3d 243 (guilty plea waives claim of innocence and related challenges)
McClanton v. State, 2014 Ark. 439, 445 S.W.3d 516 (§16-90-111 does not permit attacking judgment’s sufficiency after guilty plea)