Court Opinion

ID: 9718033
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:15:26.921559+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:57.017290
License: Public Domain

ROBERT L. Brown, Justice, concurring in part; dissenting in part. The State appeals on the basis that the judgment of acquittal for Beatrice Dawson is void due to lack of subject-matter jurisdiction in the circuit court and that this court should permit a collateral attack on the void judgment under Arkansas Rule of Civil Procedure 60(a). The majority correctly refuses to apply Rule 60(a) to criminal proceedings. See Ibsen v. Plegge, 341 Ark. 225, 15 S.W.3d 686 (2000); McCuen v. State, 338 Ark. 631, 999 S.W.2d 682 (1999). The majority, however, then goes forward and permits the State to accomplish the same result by granting a petition for writ of certiorari to collaterally attack an order of acquittal. I do not agree with using certiorari for this purpose. In the past, this court has been resolute in holding that certiorari may not be used as a substitute for appeal. Arnold v. Spears, 343 Ark. 517, 36 S.W.3d 346 (2001); Neal v. Wilson, 321 Ark. 70, 900 S.W.2d 177 (1995); Gran v. Hale, 294 Ark. 563, 745 S.W.2d 129 (1988); Henderson Meth. Church v. Sewer Imp. Dist. No. 142, 294 Ark. 188, 741 S.W.2d 272 (1987); Burney v. Hargraves, 264 Ark. 680, 573 S.W.2d 912 (1978). Farm Service Coop. v. Cummings, 262 Ark. 810, 561 S.W.2d 317 (1978); McKenzie v. Burris, 255 Ark. 330, 500 S.W.2d 357 (1973). It is true that most of these cases deal with petitions for certiorari filed before an appeal was ripe. But that is exactly the point. Certiorari is available to correct jurisdictional defects or gross abuses of discretion while the case is ongoing. It should not be available as a vehicle for collaterally attacking an order of acquittal after that final order has been entered and time for appeal has passed. Indeed, the State cites no authority for allowing this. State appeals are narrowly circumscribed under Rule 3 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure — Criminal. The majority opinion provides a new avenue for State reviews of judgments of acquittal and, in doing so, expands the scope of Rule 3 considerably. What it could not do under Rule 3, we allow it to do by certiorari. It appears clear that this appeal was not timely filed by Dawson in circuit court. But it is equally clear that the State did not challenge the jurisdictional defect until after trial, acquittal, and the time for appeal and posttrial motions had expired. Apart from the Double Jeopardy implications in all this, it appears that the State was not diligent and, thus, forfeited its right to petition for extraordinary relief. For these reasons, I respectfully dissent from the decision granting the writ of certiorari.