Wilson v. State

2016 Ark. 327

499 S.W.3d 638

Alphonso S. Wilson, Petitioner

v.State of Arkansas, Respondent

No. CR-05-870

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

Opinion Delivered October 6, 2016

PER CURIAM

Petitioner Alphonso S. Wilson is incarcerated in the Arkansas Department of Correction pursuant to a 2004 judgment reflecting his conviction for capital murder based on accomplice liability for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. This court affirmed Alphonso's conviction as an accomplice to murder, concluding that sufficient evidence supported the conviction based on Alphonso's taped confession that he had actively participated in the murder together with his mother, Denise Wilson, and his brother, Charles Stevenson.¹ Wilson v. State , 365 Ark. 664, 667, 232 S.W.3d 455, 458–592006). Denise's murder conviction was likewise affirmed by this court. Wilson v. State , 364 Ark. 550, 222 S.W.3d 171 (2006). Denise did not testify at the trial of Alphonso but she had provided statements to police implicating both of her sons in the murder. Id . at 552, 222 S.W.3d at 174.

Now before this court is Alphonso's pro se application to reinvest jurisdiction in the trial court to consider a petition for a writ of error coram nobis based on an allegation that exculpatory evidence had been withheld by the State. In support of the allegation, an affidavit is attached to the petition, executed by Denise and stating that she lied about Alphonso's participation in the murder. In the affidavit, Denise avers that the murder was committed by Charles at her encouragement, that Alphonso did not play a part in the murder because “it was already committed,” and that Alphonso did not have any idea that the murder was about to take place. Alphonso's petition and the attached affidavit fail to establish a basis for coram-nobis relief. Alphonso has also filed a motion “for a belated reply.” Because there is no provision that allows a petitioner to file a reply brief to a response to a coram-nobis petition, the motion to file a belated reply brief is also denied. Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 2-1(a)(d) (2015).

We first note that a petition filed in this court for leave to proceed in the trial court where the judgment was entered is necessary because the trial court can entertain a petition for writ of error coram nobis after a judgment has been affirmed on appeal only after we grant permission. Roberts v. State , 2013 Ark. 56, at 11, 425 S.W.3d 771, 778. A writ of error coram nobis is an extraordinarily rare remedy. Howard v. State , 2012 Ark. 177, at 4, 403 S.W.3d 38, 42–43. Coram-nobis proceedings are attended by a strong presumption that the judgment of conviction is valid. Id. The function of the writ is to secure relief from a judgment rendered while there existed some fact that would have prevented its rendition if it had been known and which, through no negligence or fault of the defendant, was not brought forward before rendition of the judgment. Id. The petitioner has the burden of demonstrating a fundamental error of fact extrinsic to the record. Id.

The writ is allowed only under compelling circumstances to achieve justice and to address errors of the most fundamental nature. Id. We have held that a writ of error coram nobis is available for addressing certain errors that are found in one of four categories: (1) insanity at the time of trial, (2) a coerced guilty plea, (3) material evidence withheld by the prosecutor, or (4) a third-party confession to the crime during the time between conviction and appeal. Id.

Despite Alphonso's allegation that exculpatory evidence had been withheld at the time of his trial, there is no evidence establishing that Denise provided any statement to investigators or the prosecutor exonerating either of her sons at the time all three were separately tried and convicted of capital murder. In fact, on appeal of her conviction, Denise did not dispute the facts established at her trial that the murder had been committed in concert with both sons, but she maintained that her participation in the crime was minimal such that her actions did not support her conviction as an accomplice. Wilson , 364 Ark. at 552–55, 222 S.W.3d at 174–76. In any event, the extent of Alphonso's culpability in the crime based on what he knew or did not know or what he did or did not do at the time the crime was committed were facts that were surely known to him and could have been presented to investigators and at his trial through his own testimony. Instead, Alphonso, for reasons he fails to explain, provided a taped confession to investigators admitting to his knowledge and participation in the murder.

To the extent that Alphonso contends that the affidavit represents a third-party confession that Denise was Charles's sole accomplice to the crime, it is a confession that was made over ten years after Alphonso's conviction has been affirmed on appeal and therefore does not fit within the relief afforded by the writ. We have limited claims of third-party confessions to the period before affirmance of the judgment of conviction. Wallace v. State , 2015 Ark. 349, at 9–10, 471 S.W.3d 192, 198–99. This is so because the questions of fact, which invariably accompany an allegation of a third-...