Timothy Lamont Howard v. State of Arkansas

Summary

The Supreme Court of Arkansas granted in part and denied in part Timothy Lamont Howard's petition to reinvest jurisdiction in the Little River County Circuit Court for a writ of error coram nobis following his capital murder convictions and death sentence. The court held that three Brady claims have apparent merit — nondisclosure of the Bode DNA report with handwritten notes showing mtDNA testing errors, nondisclosure of the Sakevicius report showing wood particles on the work boots did not match the Days' door, and nondisclosure of a sheriff's office report of childhood abuse material to mitigation — and reinvested jurisdiction for evidentiary hearings under the Cloird five-factor analysis, leaving diligence and timeliness to the circuit court. It rejected the remaining claims because the evidence was known at trial, lacked specific factual support showing pretrial availability to the State, or could have been raised at trial or on direct appeal, and it held that a Brady claim adjudicated in Rule 37 proceedings is not res judicata in a coram nobis petition because Brady violations are not cognizable under Rule 37.