Minnifield v. State

Lasalle Minnifield appeals the circuit court's denial of what he styled as a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, in which he attacked his 1980 conviction for rape and his resulting sentence of 50 years' imprisonment.1 This Court affirmed Minnifield's conviction and sentence on direct appeal without an opinion on October 28, 1980. See Minnifield v. State (No. 6 Div. 362). This Court issued a certificate of judgment on November 17, 1980.

Minnifield filed the present petition on August 3, 2004. In his petition, Minnifield claimed (1) that the indictment was void because, he said, it did not…