Dykes v. Compton

OPINION

BIRCH, Justice.

Convicted in 1989 upon a plea of guilty to aggravated rape and now serving a thirty-five year sentence, the appellant, Dennis Dykes, claims in a petition for writ of habeas corpus that the failure of the indictment to allege a culpable mental state renders the indictment invalid and the resulting conviction void. The trial court dismissed the petition, concluding that challenges to an indictment are not subject to habeas corpus relief and further that the judgment in question is not void on its face. The Court of Criminal Appeals agreed that habeas corpus relief is not…