Court Opinion

ID: 9697970
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:38:26.961767+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:37.468751
License: Public Domain

Holmes, J.
dissenting.
I regret that I am constrained to dissent from the majority opinion. With deference, I feel that the exigencies of this case have influenced the majority to disregard jurisdictional limitations and to open an avenue which may lead to the serious impairment of the finality of solemn judgments.
*173Tlie petitioner lias filed in this Court what he denominates as “a motion for leave to file a motion for a new trial in the trial court, in the nature of a petition for writ of error coram nobis. ’ ’ The relief sought by the motion or petition is based upon newly discovered evidence. The majority opinion says: “We entertain and sustain the petition under Chapter 250, Laws of 1952, as being a petition for leave to file in the trial court a motion to vacate the judgment and for a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence, and such leave is hereby granted.”
It is conceded by the majority that if the petition be treated as one for a writ of error coram nobis it would be necessary to deny it because this Court has repeatedly held that the writ of error coram nobis will not lie for newly discovered evidence. They then say, however, that they entertain the petition under Chapter 250, Laws of 1952, as being a petition for leave to file in the trial court a motion to vacate the judgment and for a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence. Chapter 250, Laws of 1952, deals solely with the writ of error coram nobis and the procedure therefor. It makes no provision for procedure where the relief is sought by motion or petition. Notwithstanding', the majority have adopted as applicable to a proceeding by motion or petition the same procedure made applicable where relief is sought by writ of error coram nobis. It is granted that under the decisions of this Court the relief for which the writ of error coram nobis lies can be granted on a motion or petition. This, however, is a matter of procedure. This Court has never held that the grounds for relief are broader or different where relief is sought by motion or petition than where relief is sought by writ of error coram nobis, and there is no logical reason why the grounds for relief should be broader or different in the one case than in the other. Yet the majority, while conceding that the relief by writ of error coram nobis can *174not be granted on the ground of newly discovered evidence, hold that relief upon such ground may be granted where the procedure is by motion or petition. I am unable to perceive why the ground for relief should be different in the one case than in the other. This Court has definitely committed itself to the proposition that relief by writ of error coram nobis cannot be granted on the ground of newly discovered evidence. With deference, I can see no justification for broadening the ground so as to include newly discovered evidence where the method for relief is pursued by motion or petition, and the majority opinion cites no precedent therefor.
The effect of the decision of the majority is to hold that where a judgment of conviction has become final in the trial court and has been affirmed by the Supreme Court, and the terms of both courts at which the respective judgments were rendered have ended, this Court may, on motion or petition, upon the ground of newly discovered evidence, reinvest the trial court with jurisdiction to entertain a motion for a new trial and to vacate the former judgment and grant such new trial. This, in my humble judgment, endangers the finality of solemn judgments and makes uncertain the end of litigation. It is further an unwarranted extension of the jurisdiction and powers of this Court.
The majority, however, seek to justify their decision by invoking the inherent powers of this Court. I would not detract from the inherent powers of the Court but I submit that they should be exercised within the scope of the Court’s jurisdiction. In 14 Am. Jur., Courts, p. 370, it is said: “It is fundamental that every court has inherent power to do all things that are reasonably necessary for the administration of justice luithin the scope of its jurisdiction.” (Emphasis ours). Section 146 of the Constitution provides: ‘ ‘ The Supreme Court shall have such jurisdiction as properly belongs to a court of appeals.” This Court may, therefore exercise such in*175herent powers, and sneh inherent powers only, as pertain to a court of appeals. The term of the trial court at which the judgment of conviction was rendered has now expired. The term of the Supreme Court at which the judgment of conviction was affirmed has now expired. This Court has definitely held that a motion for a new trial must be filed prior to the adjournment of the court and that when a term of court has finally adjourned, a party’s right to file a motion for a new trial ends. National Casualty Co., et al v. Calhoun, 219 Miss. 9, 67 So. 2d 908. In other words, under the facts of this case the trial court has no further jurisdiction of the cause. The decision of the majority would have the Supreme Court reinvest the circuit court with jurisdiction to vacate its former final judgment and grant a new trial. I respectfully submit that this is not within the scope of the jurisdiction conferred upon the Supreme Court by the Constitution, and cannot, therefore, be justified upon the ground of the Court’s inherent power. It is fundamentally true that the Supreme Court can not exercise inherent powers that are not within the scope of its jurisdiction.
For the reasons hereinbefore set forth, I am, with deference, unable to subscribe to the views and conclusions expressed in the majorty opinion. The effect of the decision of the majority is to sound the death knell of the writ of error coram nobis in this State. Hereafter the relief heretofore sought by the writ will be sought by motion or petition. Under the decision the finality of the judgment of the trial court may at any time be disturbed upon the ground of newly discovered evidence. Final judgments will have lost their sanctity and it will be difficult to predict when the end of a lawsuit is in sight.
The petitioner is not without recourse. The benevolence of the pardoning power is available to him if the facts of the case warrant its exercise.