Lee v. State
| Decision Date | 22 January 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. CR-14-923,CR-14-923 |
| Citation | 2015 Ark. 26 |
| Parties | TERRY ANTONIO LEE PETITIONER v. STATE OF ARKANSAS RESPONDENT |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
PRO SE MOTION FOR BELATED APPEAL
[PULASKI COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, NO. 60CR-10-48]
MOTION GRANTED.
In 2013, the Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed petitioner Terry Antonio Lee's conviction on charges of committing a terroristic act, criminal attempt to commit first-degree battery, and four counts of aggravated assault. Lee v. State, 2013 Ark. App. 209. The mandate issued on April 16, 2013, and, on June 3, 2013, petitioner filed in the trial court a timely petition for postconviction relief under Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37.1 (2014). After a hearing, the court denied the Rule 37.1 petition by order entered April 16, 2014, from which petitioner now seeks to appeal. This court's clerk declined to lodge the record on appeal, and petitioner has filed a motion for belated appeal. We grant the motion, and we permit the appeal to go forward.
Arkansas Rule of Appellate Procedure—Criminal 2(a) requires that a notice of appeal must be filed within thirty days of the date that an order denying a petition for postconviction relief was entered, which would apply in this case so that the notice of appeal must have been filed no later than Friday, May 16, 2014. A petitioner has the right to appeal a ruling on a petition forpostconviction relief. Bean v. State, 2014 Ark. 440 (per curiam). If a petitioner fails to file a timely notice of appeal, however, a belated appeal will not be allowed absent a showing by the petitioner of good cause for the failure to comply with proper procedure. Id.
Petitioner contends that the circuit court clerk failed to send him a copy of the April 16, 2014 order denying postconviction relief until May 9, 2014. The notice of appeal was filed on May 19, 2014. Petitioner alleges that the clerk's failure to promptly notify him of the order caused the delay in filing the notice of appeal. The State has not responded to petitioner's motion so as to refute petitioner's claim that the order was not promptly mailed.
Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37.3(d) requires the circuit court to promptly mail a copy of an order disposing of a Rule 37.1 petition to the petitioner. The language in the rule is mandatory, and this court has recognized good cause to excuse the petitioner's failure to timely file a notice of appeal in cases where the circuit court has failed to abide by Rule 37.3(d). Nelson v. State, 2013...
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Lee v. State
...the house when the shooting began. This court granted Lee's motion for belated appeal of the Rule 37.1 proceedings. Lee v. State, 2015 Ark. 26, 2015 WL 314353 (per curiam). We later remanded to settle the record and for additional findings of fact, directing the trial court to enter a suppl......
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Lee v. State
...respond to the motion or to the in forma pauperis petition. Lee's motion for a belated appeal was granted by this court. Lee v. State , 2015 Ark. 26, 2015 WL 314353. On that date, the partial record was lodged with an affidavit from the court reporter stating that the transcript had not bee......
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Green v. State
...37.3(d) requires the circuit court to promptly mail a copy of an order disposing of a Rule 37.1 petition to the petitioner. Lee v. State, 2015 Ark. 26 (per curiam). The language in the rule is mandatory, and this court has recognized good cause to excuse the petitioner's failure to timely f......
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Berks v. State
...requires the circuit court to promptly mail a copy of an order disposing of a Rule 37.1 petition to the petitioner. Lee v. State, 2015 Ark. 26, 2015 WL 314353 (per curiam). The language in the rule is mandatory, and this court has recognized good cause to excuse the petitioner's failure to ......