Leroy Stevenson, Petitioner v. State of Arkansas, Respondent

Summary

The court denied Stevenson’s request to reinvest the trial court with jurisdiction to consider a coram-nobis petition based on ineffective-assistance claims. It held that coram-nobis relief is an extraordinarily narrow remedy limited to fundamental, extrinsic factual errors within recognized categories, and that federal authority concerning meaningful review of ineffective-assistance claims does not require expanding that remedy. Stevenson’s asserted lack of an adequate opportunity to litigate ineffective assistance was therefore outside the scope of coram-nobis proceedings.