Ex Parte David Eugene Files. Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Court of Criminal Appeals (in Re: David Eugene…

Summary

The court affirmed dismissal of Files's Rule 32 petition, holding that a presiding judge's erroneous appointment of a successor after recusal does not deprive the circuit court of subject-matter jurisdiction. The court distinguished errors affecting a judge's authority from defects affecting the court's constitutional or statutory power to hear a felony prosecution, and held that the assignment issue was therefore not a jurisdictional basis for post-conviction relief. The court overruled the contrary portion of the earlier assignment decision to the extent it characterized the error as jurisdictional.