Malone v. Hobbs

Summary

The Supreme Court of Arkansas affirmed the dismissal of Herbert Phillip Malone’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The court held that Malone failed to show that defects in his extradition or the length of his sentence rendered the judgment facially invalid or deprived the trial court of jurisdiction. The court also declined to revisit the previously resolved challenge to his sentence.

Holdings

1. A habeas writ was not warranted because Malone failed to establish that the extradition procedure rendered the judgment-and-commitment order facially invalid or deprived the Arkansas circuit court of subject-matter or personal jurisdiction.
2. The sentence was not illegal merely because it exceeded the ordinary human life span, and the issue could not be relitigated in this habeas appeal because it had been resolved in prior proceedings.

Questions Presented

1. Whether alleged defects in Malone's extradition from Tennessee rendered the Arkansas judgment-and-commitment order facially invalid or deprived the Arkansas circuit court of jurisdiction.
2. Whether Malone's aggregate 348-year sentence was outside the statutory range or otherwise illegal and therefore cognizable in habeas corpus.

Disposition

affirmed