Jimmie Lee Dyas v. State of Arkansas

ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

September 18, 2003

JIMMIE LEE DYAS

Appellant

v.

STATE OF ARKANSAS

Appellee

CR 02-959

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF LITTLE RIVER COUNTY, CR 75-4, HONORABLE CHARLES A. YEARGAN, JUDGE

AFFIRMED

Per Curiam

Appellant is serving a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for capital murder. See Dyas v. State, 260 Ark. 303, 539 S.W.2d 251 (1976). Now before us is his appeal of the denial of his pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus on a claim of actual innocence pursuant to Act 1780 of 2001, codified as Ark. Code Ann. § 16-112-201 to -207 (Supp. 2001). The trial court denied the petition without a hearing, concluding that appellant had failed to meet the requirements for establishing a prima facie case under the act. We agree.

Act 1780 was passed by the General Assembly in response to nation-wide concerns that innocent persons were being imprisoned and even executed for crimes that they did not commit. Echols v. State, 350 Ark. 42, 44, 84 S.W.3d 424, 426 (2002) (per curiam). The act provides that a writ of habeas corpus could issue based upon new scientific evidence proving a person is actually innocent of the offense or offenses for which they were convicted. See Ark. Code Ann. § 16-112-103(a)(1), and 16-112-201 to -207.

Appellant sought in his petition fingerprint testing, DNA testing, and other scientific tests to demonstrate his actual innocence. A number of predicate requirements must be met under Act 1780. See Ark. Code Ann. § 16-112-201 to -203. Of importance here is the requirement that a petitioner must present a prima facie case that identity was an issue at trial, and that the evidence to be tested has been subject to a chain of custody sufficient to establish that it has not been substituted, tampered with, replaced, or altered in any material aspect. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-112-202(b).

Appellant failed to present a prima facie case that his identity was an issue at trial. As detailed in our opinion affirming appellant's conviction and sentence, appellant testified at his trial and admitted that he accompanied his accomplice during the murder of Curtis Eugene Zachary. Dyas, 260 Ark. at 314, 539 S.W.2d at 257-58. Accordingly, the trial court properly denied appellant's petition.

Affirmed.

Thornton, J., not participating.