Rickie W. Cagle v. State of Arkansas

Annotate this Case
01-802

ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

PER CURIAM

FEBRUARY 21, 2002

RICKIE W. CAGLE

Appellant

v.

LARRY NORRIS, DIRECTOR,

ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION

Appellee

01-802

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NO. CIV-2001-83-3, HONORABLE FRED D. DAVIS III, JUDGE

AFFIRMED

On June 12, 1981, appellant pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery in the Circuit Court of Benton County and received a sentence of fifty years' imprisonment. On June 16, 1981, appellant pled guilty to aggravated robbery in the Circuit Court of Madison County and received an additional fifty-year sentence to be served concurrently with the earlier sentence. On February 16, 2001, appellant filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, which was denied. On appeal, appellant argues that the trial courts lacked jurisdiction to impose the fifty-year sentences for his first and second offenses, that the judgments are invalid, and that the aggravated robbery statute is ambiguous.

The court held that the claims raised by appellant were not sufficient to demonstrate that the commitment was invalid or that the court lacked jurisdiction. The court cited Davis v. Reed, 316 Ark. 575, 873 S.W.2d 524 (1994), which states that "[a] writ of habeas corpus is proper when a judgment of conviction is invalid on its face or when a circuit court lacked jurisdiction over the cause." Id. at 577, 873 S.W.2d at 525. Appellant has made no such showing.

According to Ark. Code Ann. § 16-88-101(a)(3), "the circuit courts shall have general jurisdiction for the trial of all offenses which may be prosecuted by indictment, and all prosecutions and penal actions...." Moreover, "[w]here an indictment is found in the circuit court for an offense within its jurisdiction, the court shall have jurisdiction of all the degrees of the offense...." Ark. Code Ann. § 16-88-101(b). Appellant was accused of committing aggravated robbery in both Benton County and again in Madison County; therefore, both circuit courts had jurisdiction over appellant's cases.

Appellant also claims that each judgment was invalid on its face. As mentioned, appellant received two separate fifty-year sentences for the aggravated robberies. At the time appellant committed the crimes, aggravated robbery was a Class A felony with a sentencing range of five to fifty years. See Ark. Stat. Ann. § 41-2102; § 41-901 (Repl. 1977). Therefore, neither of the judgments is invalid, and appellant's petition was properly denied.

Finally, appellant's claim that the aggravated robbery statute is ambiguous is not cognizable in a state habeas corpus proceeding. As previously stated, habeas relief is proper only when a judgment of conviction is invalid on its face or when a circuit court lacked jurisdiction over the cause. Davis, supra. Because appellant has failed to state a claim upon which habeas relief can issue, we affirm the circuit court's denial of the petition.

Affirmed.

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