Opinion
NO. 2018 CA 0567
02-22-2019
AVIS JAMES WILLIAMS v. LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONS
Avis James Williams Angie, Louisiana Plaintiff/Appellant Pro Se Jonathan R. Vining Baton Rouge Louisiana Counsel for Defendant/Appellee Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION Appealed from the 19th Judicial District Court In and for the Parish of East Baton Rouge State of Louisiana
Case No. C652725 The Honorable Wilson Fields, Judge Presiding Avis James Williams
Angie, Louisiana Plaintiff/Appellant
Pro Se Jonathan R. Vining
Baton Rouge Louisiana Counsel for Defendant/Appellee
Louisiana Department of Public
Safety and Corrections BEFORE: GUIDRY, THERIOT, AND PENZATO, JJ. THERIOT, J.
Avis Williams, an inmate in the custody of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (LDPSC) and incarcerated at Rayburn Correctional Center in Washington Parish, appeals the judgment of the Nineteenth Judicial District Court (19th JDC), dismissing his suit and denying his request for release from the custody of the LDPSC. In this memorandum opinion, we affirm the judgment of the trial court for the following reasons.
Mr. Williams filed a petition for judicial review in the 19th JDC on November 7, 2016, after exhausting his administrative remedies under the Corrections Administrative Remedy Procedure, La. R.S. 15:1177 et seq. As the statement of his claim and relief requested, Mr. Williams attached a handwritten document entitled "Writ of Habeas Corpus" to his petition for judicial review. Mr. Williams requested an immediate discharge from custody "in the interest of justice," or that he be brought before the 19th JDC and have representatives of the LDPSC appear and state what authority the LDPSC has to hold him in custody. Mr. Williams asserted that he should be released from custody because his confinement is invalid and lacks authority due to the fact that his commitment order did not contain a seal, which he claimed was required under law. He also claimed that the evidence of his prior convictions at his habitual offender proceeding was improperly authenticated due to the omission of a seal.
The Commissioner's report recommended that Mr. Williams's petition and request for release be denied. The Commissioner noted that although Mr. Williams states that he is seeking habeas relief, "his memorandum in support of his position clearly shows that he actually challenges the propriety of his conviction and sentence, rather than the authority for his custody by [LDPSC], which clearly comes from the sentencing court." The Commissioner further determined that Mr. Williams is not entitled to his desired relief because the evidence submitted by the LDPSC showed that Mr. Williams was found guilty in the Thirty-Second Judicial District Court (32nd JDC) by a multiple offender bill pursuant to La. R.S. 15:529.1. Having been adjudicated a fourth felony offender, Mr. Williams was sentenced to 30 years in the custody of the LDPSC. The Commissioner determined that Mr. Williams's claim was meritless, as the record contains the court minutes that show Mr. Williams was sentenced to 30 years at hard labor. The reviewing court adopted the Commissioner's recommendation and dismissed Mr. Williams' suit with prejudice in a judgment signed July 5, 2017. Mr. Williams appeals the judgment.
The office of the Commissioner of the 19th JDC was created by La. R.S. 13:711. The Commissioner's duties include hearing and recommendation of disposition of criminal and civil proceedings arising out of the incarceration of state prisoners. The Commissioner's written findings and recommendations are submitted to a district judge, who may accept, reject, or modify them, in whole or in part, and also may receive further evidence or recommit the matter to the Commissioner with instructions. La. R.S. 13:713.
This Court issued a rule to show cause ex proprio motu as to whether the instant appeal should be dismissed as untimely, as it appeared initially that Mr. Williams had not filed his motion for appeal of the July 5, 2017 judgment until November 30, 2017. Following the supplementation of the appellate record with an order granting Mr. Williams an appeal pursuant to his August 17, 2017 pleading styled "Notice of Appeal," this Court ruled on October 5, 2018, that the instant appeal would be maintained.
In Mr. Williams's pro se brief, he essentially argues that the reviewing court erred when it dismissed his petition, because he is being illegally detained upon unlawful documents not authenticated or properly certified under seal.
Louisiana is a fact pleading state that values substance over form and does not require the use of magic titles or terminology as a threshold requirement for validly pleading an action. Courts should look through the caption of pleadings in order to ascertain their substance and to do substantial justice to the parties. Southeastern Louisiana University v. Cook, 12-0021, p. 4 (La.App. 1 Cir. 9/21/12), 104 So.3d 124, 127-28. See also La. C.C.P. art. 865 ("Every pleading shall be so construed as to do substantial justice."). Thus, we must analyze the nature of Mr. Williams's pleading by its substance and not its caption. See State ex rel. Lay v. Cain, 96-1247, p. 3 (La.App. 1 Cir. 2/14/97), 691 So.2d 135, 137.
Although Mr. Williams alleges that he is seeking a writ of habeas corpus, in reality he is seeking to have his habitual offender conviction and sentence set aside, which must be accomplished via an application for postconviction relief in the sentencing court, i.e., the 32nd JDC. See Lay, 96-1247 at pp. 3-4, 691 So.2d at 137. See also La. C.Cr.P. arts. 924 & 925.
Habeas corpus is a writ commanding a person who has another in his custody to produce him before the court and to state the authority for the custody. La. C.Cr.P. art. 351. Habeas corpus proceedings by or on behalf of a person in custody shall be instituted in the parish in which the person is in custody. La. C.Cr.P. art. 352. The writ of habeas corpus in the instant case was filed in the 19th JDC, while Mr. Williams was incarcerated in Washington Parish, in the Twenty-Second Judicial District. The only district court that would have jurisdiction to entertain a habeas corpus proceeding brought by a prisoner would be the district court where the prisoner is detained and held in custody. State ex rel. Weston v. Walker, 236 La. 95, 99, 107 So.2d 298, 299 (La. 1958), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 876, 80 S.Ct. 141, 4 L.Ed.2d 115 (1959).
In addition, we find that the record contains ample evidence that Mr. Williams was legally convicted and sentenced under Louisiana law. Mr. Williams's uniform commitment order, which he claims does not contain an appropriate seal, indicates that he was found guilty of possession of cocaine and that the underlying sentence was enhanced by a multiple offender bill to a period of 30 years at hard labor. The commitment order was signed by the sentencing court. Upon our review of the entire record, we find that Mr. Williams was convicted of possession of cocaine, properly adjudicated a habitual offender, and then legally sentenced under Louisiana law. Mr. Williams has not presented any legal authority, and we can find none, that would invalidate a legal sentence for the commitment order not containing a "seal" of any kind.
Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:967(C)(2), at the time of the offense, provided a sentence for a conviction of possession of cocaine of imprisonment with or without hard labor for not more than five years, and a possible fine of not more than five thousand dollars. Pursuant to La. R.S. 15:529.1(A)(4)(a), at the time of the offense, Mr. Williams's underlying sentence could be enhanced to a term between twenty years and life imprisonment, since he had been convicted of four prior felonies. --------
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the 19th JDC, which dismissed Avis Williams's claims with prejudice. We issue this memorandum opinion pursuant to Uniform Rules—Courts of Appeal, Rule 2-16.1(B). All costs of this appeal are assessed to Avis Williams.
AFFIRMED.