Case Title: Sawyer v. State

Citation: 

Docket Number: CR96-693

State: arkansas

Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Date: 1997-02-24T00:00:00Z

Document:
Clint SAWYER v. STATE of Arkansas

CR 96-693                                          ___ S.W.2d ___

                    Supreme Court of Arkansas
               Opinion delivered February 24, 1997


1.   Habeas corpus -- when writ will issue. -- A writ of habeas
     corpus will issue only if the commitment was invalid on its
     face or the committing court lacked jurisdiction. 

2.   Criminal law -- when information sufficient -- information
     here was sufficient. -- An information is sufficient if it
     names the defendant, the offense charged, the statute under
     which the charge was made, the court and county where the
     alleged offense was committed, and sets forth the principal
     language of the statute and the asserted facts constituting
     the offense; where the rape charges filed against appellant
     met these requirements, the information was sufficient.

3.   Criminal procedure -- proper time to object to sufficiency of
     information or indictment -- subject-matter jurisdiction of
     trial court is not implicated when sufficiency of information
     is questioned. -- The proper time to object to the sufficiency
     of an indictment or information is prior to trial; the supreme
     court has declined to review the sufficiency of an information
     on appeal when there was no proper objection in the court
     below; even if the information were insufficient, the trial
     court would have had subject-matter jurisdiction of the rape
     charges; the subject-matter jurisdiction of the trial court is
     not implicated when the sufficiency of the information is
     questioned, and appellant was not entitled to habeas corpus
     relief.

4.   Habeas corpus -- court's interpretation of legislation clear -
     - interpretation stands until law is changed. -- Appellant's
     argument that the supreme court had impermissibly narrowed the
     grounds for habeas corpus relief was without merit; the courts
     have determined that a habeas corpus petitioner is held
     without lawful authority when the commitment order is invalid
     on its face or when the circuit court lacks jurisdiction; the
     legislature is presumed to be familiar with the court's
     interpretation of its statutes, and until it amends the
     statutes, the court's interpretation of Ark. Code Ann.  16-
     112-103 (1987) remains the law; the trial court's denial of
     appellant's petition for habeas corpus relief was affirmed.


     Appeal from Lincoln Circuit Court; Fred D. Davis, Judge;
affirmed.
     Appellant, Pro se.
     Winston Bryant, Att'y Gen., by:  Vada Berger, Asst. Att'y
Gen., for appellee.

     Per Curiam.
     The pro se appellant, Clint Sawyer, was convicted of three
counts of rape and three counts of burglary in 1983.  He was
sentenced to a total of sixty years' imprisonment for the burglary
convictions, which he is serving concurrently with three
consecutive life sentences that he received on each of the rape
convictions.  We affirmed the judgment in Sawyer v. State, 284 Ark.
26, 678 S.W.2d 367 (1984).  In this case, Sawyer is appealing an
order of the Lincoln County Circuit Court that denies his petition
for habeas corpus relief.  We affirm.
     A writ of habeas corpus will issue only if the commitment was
invalid on its face or the committing court lacked jurisdiction. 
Cothrine v. State, 322 Ark. 112,