Lajason J. Coakley v. State of Arkansas

Summary

The court affirmed the denial of Coakley’s petition to correct an illegal sentence. It held that his life sentence for first-degree murder was legal on its face because the governing habitual-offender statute authorized life imprisonment based on two prior violent-felony convictions, and the record showed two separate convictions rather than one merged conviction. The court therefore concluded that Coakley failed to establish a jurisdictional facial defect.