Davis v. State

2018 Ark. App. 540, 564 S.W.3d 283
Court of Appeals of Arkansas·Decided November 7, 2018·No. No. CR-18-347·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

N. MARK KLAPPENBACH, Judge

On November 29, 2017, appellant Larry David Davis appeared before the Clark County Circuit Court to enter a negotiated plea of no contest to the crimes of commercial *286burglary, theft of property, and breaking or entering, as charged in circuit court case number CR-17-70. The State had accused Davis of breaking into the office of the Southfork Truck Stop in Clark County and stealing money on April 4, 2017. At the conclusion of the plea hearing, the trial court sentenced Davis, as a habitual offender, to concurrent prison terms for a total of thirty years to be served in the Arkansas Department of Correction. A sentencing order was filed to memorialize the plea and sentencing. Davis filed a petition for postconviction relief in case number CR-17-70 pursuant to Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37. The circuit court entered an order denying Davis's petition without conducting an evidentiary hearing. Davis filed a timely notice of appeal from that order. We affirm.

When reviewing the trial court's ruling on a Rule 37.1 petition, the appellant is limited to the scope and nature of the arguments that he made below that were considered by the trial court in rendering its ruling. Pedraza v. State , 2016 Ark. 85, 485 S.W.3d 686. We do not address new arguments raised for the first time on appeal, nor do we consider factual substantiation added to bolster the allegations made below. Thornton v. State , 2014 Ark. 113, 2014 WL 1096263 ; Bridgeman v. State , 2017 Ark. App. 321, 525 S.W.3d 459.

We do not reverse the denial of postconviction relief unless the circuit court's findings are clearly erroneous. Johnson v. State , 2018 Ark. 6, at 2, 534 S.W.3d 143, 146. A finding is clearly erroneous when the appellate court, after reviewing the entire evidence, is left with the definite and firm conviction that the circuit court made a mistake. Id. The trial court has discretion pursuant to Rule 37.3(a) to decide whether the files or records are sufficient to sustain the court's findings without a hearing. Wood v. State , 2015 Ark. 477, 478 S.W.3d 194. Davis does not argue on appeal that the circuit court's decision not to hold an evidentiary hearing on his postconviction petition was in error.

"The benchmark for judging a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel must be 'whether counsel's conduct so undermined the proper functioning of the adversarial process that the trial cannot be relied on as having produced a just result.' Strickland [v. Washington , 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984) ]." Mancia v. State , 2015 Ark. 115, at 4, 459 S.W.3d 259, 264 (citing Henington v. State , 2012 Ark. 181, at 3-4, 403 S.W.3d 55, 58 ). Pursuant to Strickland , we assess the effectiveness of counsel under a two-prong standard. First, a petitioner raising a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel must show that his counsel's performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness. Mancia , 2015 Ark. 115, at 4, 459 S.W.3d at 264. A court must indulge in a strong presumption that counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance. Osburn v. State , 2018 Ark. App. 97, 538 S.W.3d 258. Second, the petitioner must show that counsel's deficient performance so prejudiced petitioner's defense that he was deprived of a fair trial. Id. The petitioner must show there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's errors, the fact-finder would have had a reasonable doubt respecting guilt, i.e., the decision reached would have been different absent the errors. Id. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome of the trial. Id. Unless a petitioner makes both showings, it cannot be said that the conviction resulted from a breakdown in the adversarial process that renders the result unreliable. Id. Additionally, conclusory statements that counsel was ineffective cannot be the basis for postconviction relief. Id.

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Davis v. State, 2018 Ark. App. 540, 564 S.W.3d 283 (Ark. Ct. App. 2018).

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