Arkansas Supreme Court affirms denial of Samuel Love’s habeas petition

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Sept. 25 affirmed the Jefferson County Circuit Court’s denial and dismissal of a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus filed by Samuel Love, who challenged his 2017 convictions and 480-month sentence. Justice Barbara W. Webb wrote the opinion for the court.

In the opinion, Justice Webb said Love had “failed to state cognizable claims” and had not shown that he was being illegally detained. The court rejected Love’s arguments that he was innocent, that he was improperly charged by information rather than a grand jury, that the information was invalid because it was signed by a deputy prosecutor, and that double-jeopardy protections barred a refiling of charges.

The court explained that habeas relief is appropriate only when a judgment and commitment is facially invalid or when a trial court lacks jurisdiction, and it cited prior Arkansas decisions on those standards. The opinion noted that Love pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, first-degree battery, and aggravated assault and received concurrent sentences imposed in 2017 that aggregate to 480 months’ imprisonment in the Arkansas Division of Correction.

Justice Webb wrote that challenges to a guilty plea’s sufficiency of the evidence require looking beyond the face of the sentencing order and therefore are not cognizable in habeas proceedings absent a facial defect. The court also held that an information signed by a deputy prosecutor is voidable but not void and thus not a basis for habeas relief, citing Randle v. Straughn and related authority.

On the question of indictment, the court reiterated that Arkansas law permits prosecution by information under amendment 21 to the Arkansas Constitution and that a defendant has no constitutional right to a grand-jury indictment, citing McClinton v. State. Regarding Love’s double-jeopardy argument, the court said the record did not show on its face that an illegal sentence was imposed or that the court lacked jurisdiction, and therefore the claim was not cognizable in habeas proceedings.

The court affirmed the circuit court’s dismissal. Special Justice Jim F. Andrews Jr. joined the opinion; Justice Bronni did not participate. The record identifies Tim Griffin as Arkansas Attorney General’s Office counsel, represented in the appeal by Assistant Attorney General James Hill.

Background: Love filed the petition in Jefferson County, where he is incarcerated, contending among other things that he was illegally charged and that a prior information was dismissed and then refiled. The circuit court found no jurisdictional or facial defects in the sentencing order and dismissed the petition. The Supreme Court reviewed that decision under the standard that a circuit court’s habeas ruling will be upheld unless clearly erroneous.

No new sentence was imposed and no relief was granted on appeal. The case is reported as 2025 Ark. 136.