Shamlin v. State

718 S.W.2d 462, 19 Ark. App. 165, 1986 Ark. App. LEXIS 2490
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 29, 1986
DocketCA CR 86-166
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 718 S.W.2d 462 (Shamlin v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shamlin v. State, 718 S.W.2d 462, 19 Ark. App. 165, 1986 Ark. App. LEXIS 2490 (Ark. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

Luther Shamlin was convicted of arson and of conspiring with John I. Purtle and/or Linda Nooner to commit theft by deception in an amount exceeding $2500.00, growing out of alleged arsons of a car and a home for the purpose of collecting on fire insurance policies.

Petitioner perfected an appeal which is presently pending in this court. Purtle was subsequently acquitted of the alleged conspiracy in a trial in which the testimony of some of the witnesses differed in some respects from that given in Shamlin’s trial. Shamlin has filed a petition in the Court of Appeals requesting that we reinvest the trial court with jurisdiction and permission to entertain his petition for writ of error coram nobis. The petition is filed in this court because the trial court lost jurisdiction when the record was lodged here, and the court in which the conviction was obtained is the proper court to entertain a petition for a writ of error coram nobis.

When such a petition is directed to the appellate court, the burden on the petitioner is less than that imposed on him in the trial court where the merits of the petition are to be determined.

THE ROLE OF THE TRIAL COURT

In the trial court the writ is granted only when it is convincingly shown that there is an error of fact extrinsic to the record (such as insanity at the time of trial, a coerced plea of guilty, or material evidence withheld by the prosecutor) which would have prevented the rendition of the judgment had it been known to the court. Penñ v. State, 282 Ark. 571, 670 S.W.2d 426 (1984). The rule stated in Troglin v. State, 257 Ark. 644, 519 S.W.2d 740 (1975), is as follows:

(1) The function of the writ of coram nobis is to secure relief from a judgment rendered while there existed some fact which would have prevented its rendition if it had been known to the trial court and which, through no negligence or fault of the defendant, was not brought forward before rendition of judgment;
(2) Coram nobis proceedings are attended by a strong presumption that the judgment of conviction is valid. The court is not required to accept at face value the allegations of the petition;
(3) Due diligence is required in making application for relief, and, in the absence of a valid excuse for delay, the petition will be denied; and
(4) The mere naked allegation that a constitutional right has been invaded will not suffice. The application should make a full disclosure of specific facts relied upon and not merely state conclusions as to the nature of such facts.

257 Ark. at 645-646, 519 S.W.2d at 741.

It is not the function of such a writ to review the evidence presented at the trial or determine that it was improperly admitted. Coram nobis does not lie to review an issue of fact or to contradict an adjudicated issue. Gross v. State, 242 Ark. 142, 412 S.W.2d 279 (1967). Nor is newly discovered evidence a proper basis for the issuance of the writ except in the narrow circumstance recognized by the supreme court in Penn v. State, supra, (newly discovered confession of a third party that he, not the petitioner, had committed the crime).

THE ROLE OF THE APPELLATE COURT

In Jenkins v. State, 223 Ark. 245, 265 S.W.2d 512 (1954), the burden of one seeking permission from an appellate court to present the writ to the trial court was defined as follows:

An application made to the appellate court for permission to proceed in the lower court should make a full disclosure of the specific facts relied on and not merely the conclusions of the party as to the nature and effect of such acts. In the exercise of its discretion as to whether the petition for leave should be granted the court should look to the reasonableness of the allegations of the petition and to the existence of the probability of the truth thereof, and grant leave only when it appears the proposed attack on the judgment is meritorious.

223 Ark. at 246, 265 S.W.2d at 513 (quoting 24 C.J.S. Criminal Law § 1606 (21) (1961) (emphasis added).

Jenkins also indicates that the allegation of those facts which the petitioner believes would lead to a different result should be supported by affidavit or other documentation. Here we are supplied only with portions of the record in the two separate trials of the alleged co-conspirators without affidavits or other documentation.

POINT I

Petitioner’s Point I involves an exhibit and testimony received in his trial which he contends were shown in the Purtle trial to have been withheld in violation of the discovery rules.

In petitioner’s trial, an insurance adjuster introduced as a business record an inventory said to have been made after the fire at Nooner’s home. Listed on the document were appliances which were claimed to have been destroyed in the fire and the time, place, and price of their purchase. He stated that the inventory was based on information furnished by Nooner.

In Purtle’s subsequent trial, it was brought out on cross-examination that at the time the adjuster met with Nooner he only listed the items which she claimed had been destroyed in the fire. The adjuster stated that the documentation of the time, place, and price at which they were purchased was furnished at a later date and not inserted on the exhibit until immediately before petitioner’s trial. The trial court ruled that, as the entries of value had not been made close in point of time to the events described, the document had lost its status as a business entry, at least to the extent of the recitation of value. The adjuster then introduced the document showing only the entries made at the time of the first interview and testified without objection to the items’ values from the documents furnished him by Nooner. From the record it appears that only the copy of this instrument showing the list of destroyed appliances had been furnished to the prosecutor and released to petitioner on discovery.

There is no evidence that the prosecutor was any more aware of the sequence of these events than petitioner’s counsel. Both had a copy of the instrument released on discovery and the opportunity to examine the exhibit introduced by the witness, but neither discovered the difference. It was not alleged or shown that the information contained on the admitted document was false, or known to have been false and willfully withheld. To the contrary, this information was presented to the jury at Purtle’s trial from receipts and documents furnished the adjuster by Nooner. This does not establish a fact which, if known, would have prevented petitioner’s conviction. It simply would establish a fact which, if known, would have at best required a different order of proof which was readily available at both trials.

POINT II

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Related

Garrett v. Allstate Insurance Co.
762 S.W.2d 3 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1988)
Shamlin v. State
743 S.W.2d 1 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1988)
Yedrysek v. State
739 S.W.2d 672 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
718 S.W.2d 462, 19 Ark. App. 165, 1986 Ark. App. LEXIS 2490, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shamlin-v-state-arkctapp-1986.