Buckhanna v. Hobbs
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
Cite as 2011 Ark. 119
SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS
No. 10-1079
Opinion Delivered
CONNEAL BUCKHANNA
Appellant
v.
RAY HOBBS
Appellee
March 17, 2011
PRO SE MOTION FOR WRIT OF
CERTIORARI TO COMPLETE THE
RECORD [LEE COUNTY CIRCUIT
COURT, CV 2010-87, HON.
RICHARD L. PROCTOR, JUDGE]
APPEAL DISMISSED; MOTION
MOOT.
PER CURIAM
In 2010, appellant Conneal Buckhanna, an inmate incarcerated in the Arkansas
Department of Correction at the East Arkansas Regional Unit in Lee County, filed a pro se
petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Lee County Circuit Court. The court denied the
petition, and, on August 2, 2010, appellant filed a notice of appeal that reflected that he had
been transferred to another unit of the department, the Delta Regional Unit in Chicot
County. Appellant has lodged an appeal of the order in this court, and he now seeks by pro
se motion a writ of certiorari to supplement the record. We do not reach the merits of the
motion and dismiss the appeal because the Lee County Circuit Court can no longer grant the
relief requested by appellant.
An appeal of the denial of postconviction relief, including an appeal from an order that
denied a petition for writ of habeas corpus, will not be permitted to go forward where it is
Cite as 2011 Ark. 119
clear that the appellant could not prevail. Davis v. State, 2011 Ark. 6 (per curiam); Lukach v.
State, 369 Ark. 475, ___ S.W.3d ___ (2007) (per curiam).
Any petition for writ of habeas corpus to effect the release of a prisoner is properly
addressed to the circuit court in the county in which the prisoner is held in custody, unless
the petition is filed pursuant to Act 1780 of 2001, codified at Arkansas Code Annotated §§
16-112-201 to -208 (Repl. 2006), in which case the petition is properly filed pursuant to
Arkansas Code Annotated § 16-112-201(a) in the court where the judgment of conviction
was entered. Appellant, who is incarcerated by virtue of multiple judgments of conviction
entered in the Pulaski County Circuit Court, did not invoke Act 1780. By the time appellant
filed his notice of appeal, he was in custody in Chicot County, where he is currently
incarcerated. The Department of Correction records verify the change in location.
A circuit court does not have jurisdiction to release on a writ of habeas corpus a
prisoner not in custody in that court’s jurisdiction. Hill v. State, 2010 Ark. 102 (per curiam);
Pardue v. State, 338 Ark. 606, 999 S.W.2d 198 (1999) (per curiam) (citing Mackey v. Lockhart,
307 Ark. 321, 819 S.W.2d 702 (1991)). Even if appellant’s petition had merit and the circuit
court erred in dismissing it, appellant cannot now prevail on appeal. Accordingly, the appeal
is dismissed, and the motion for a writ to supplement the record is moot.
Appeal dismissed; motion moot.
2
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
