Lance Mitchell Owens v. Dexter Payne

Summary

The court affirmed denial of Owens’s habeas petition because his life sentence for first-degree murder was imposed pursuant to a negotiated guilty plea and fell within the statutory sentencing range. The court held that the statutory departure-report requirement did not apply to the agreed sentence, and Owens therefore failed to show that the judgment was facially invalid or that the sentencing court lacked jurisdiction.