Jones v. Williams

Citations

• 2019 CO 61
• 443 P.3d 56

Syllabus

In this habeas corpus appeal, the Supreme Court considered whether a district court may summarily dismiss a petition for lack of jurisdiction because the petitioner failed to include a warrant of commitment, as required by CRS § 13-45-101(1). The Court held that noncompliance with the warrant requirement does not deprive courts of jurisdiction over habeas corpus petitions. When the petitioner does not supply all the relevant warrants of commitment and the court believes that all the warrants are necessary for fair resolution of the habeas petition, the court should either ask the petitioner to provide the missing information or consider the petition based on the information provided. To the extent that Butler v. Zavaras, 924 P.2d 1060, 1062 (Colo. 1996), Evans v. District Court, 572 P.2d 811, 813 (Colo. 1977), Garrett v. Knight, 480 P.2d 569, 570–71 (Colo. 1971), and McNamara v. People, 410 P.2d 517, 517–18 (Colo. 1966) hold that noncompliance with the warrant requirement is jurisdictional, deprives the court of authority to act, and requires summary dismissal, the Supreme Court overruled these cases.