Watkins v. State

• Decision Date: 01 April 2010
• Docket Number: No. CR 09–1079.,CR 09–1079.
• Citation: 362 S.W.3d 910,2010 Ark. 156
• Parties: Kyron Deandre WATKINS, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

2010 Ark. 156

362 S.W.3d 910

Kyron Deandre WATKINS, Appellant,

v.STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.

No. CR 09–1079.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

April 1, 2010.

No briefs filed.PER CURIAM.

On August 29, 2007, appellant Kyron Deandre Watkins and two codefendants were tried before a jury on charges of first-degree battery, kidnapping, and possession of a firearm by certain persons. Appellant was convicted of the lesser-included felony of second-degree battery, kidnapping, and possession of a firearm by certain persons, for which sentences of five, ten, and five years' imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Correction, respectively, were imposed. Appellant was also sentenced by the trial court, rather than the jury, to an additional fifteen years' imprisonment for commission of a felony with a firearm pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated § 16–90–120 (Repl.2006), and the court ordered all of the sentences to run consecutively. The Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed. Watkins v. State, 2009 Ark. App. 124, 302 S.W.3d 635.

Appellant timely filed in the trial court a petition for postconviction relief under Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37.1 (2009) alleging eight grounds for postconviction relief. A joint hearing was held on the Rule 37.1 petitions of appellant and the two codefendants, and an order denying Rule 37.1 relief was entered on June 19, 2009. However, the trial court's written findings accompanying this order addressed only one issue raised in appellant's original Rule 37.1 petition.

Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal from this order on July 7, 2009, and the appeal transcript was lodged in this court on September 29, 2009. Now before us are appellant's motions in which he requests an extension of time in which to file his brief-in-chief, asks this court to reverse and remand to the trial court for written findings of fact and conclusions of law regarding appellant's original Rule 37.1 petition, asks to stay his appeal pending the trial court's reconsideration of the petition, and seeks duplication of his brief-in-chief at public expense. Appellant tendered his brief to our clerk on January 4, 2010.

For reasons discussed herein, we treat appellant's motion to remand his case to the trial court as a petition to reinvest jurisdiction in the trial court, and we deny it. Because we determine that the allegations in the petition are such that it is clear that appellant cannot prevail, we dismiss the appeal, and all remaining motions are moot. An appeal from an order that denied a petition for postconviction relief will not be permitted to go forward where it is clear that the appellant could not prevail. See Pierce v. State, 2009 Ark. 606, 2009 WL 4405790 (per curiam); Grissom v. State, 2009 Ark. 557, 2009 WL 3681389 (per curiam); Pardue v. State, 338 Ark. 606, 999 S.W.2d 198 (1999) (per curiam); Seaton v. State, 324 Ark. 236, 920 S.W.2d 13 (1996) (per curiam).

A. Motion to Remand to the Trial Court For Findings of Fact

As an initial matter, we must address the fact that the trial court ruled on only one of the grounds for relief appellant raised in his Rule 37.1 petition. When a hearing is granted on a petition for postconviction relief, we have held that Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37.3(c) (2009) is mandatory and requires the trial court to provide written findings of fact and conclusions of law on every point upon which the hearing is held. See Scott v. State, 351 Ark. 619, 96 S.W.3d 732 (2003) (per curiam); Beshears v. State, 329 Ark. 469, 947 S.W.2d 789 (1997) (per curiam). We have distinguished, however, between two different situations under this rule.

In cases where the trial court fails to enter any written findings following a hearing, we have consistently remanded the case to the trial court for fact-finding on all of the issues raised in the petition. See, e.g., Scott, 351 Ark. 619, 96 S.W.3d 732; Beshears, 329 Ark. 469, 947 S.W.2d 789. However, where the trial court provides written findings on at least one, but less than all, of the petitioner's claims, we have held that an appellant has an obligation to obtain a ruling on any omitted issues if they are to be considered on appeal. See, e.g., Howard v. State, 367 Ark. 18, 238 S.W.3d 24 (2006); Beshears v. State, 340 Ark. 70, 8 S.W.3d 32 (2000). With respect to Rule 37.3(c), the instant case is of the latter variety.

When a trial court fails to rule on an issue raised in a Rule 37.1 petition, an appellant may request the court to modify its order to include any omitted issue notwithstanding the prohibition against motions for reconsideration in Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37.2(d) (2009). Viveros v. State, 2009 Ark. 548 (per curiam); Beshears, 340 Ark. 70, 73, 8 S.W.3d 32, 34. Appellant claims that he filed a request in the trial court in the form of a motion for reconsideration asking that the trial court amend its order denying Rule 37.1 relief and provide a ruling on all issues raised in appellant's original petition. Appellant's motion is not contained in the record, but he has attached to his motion for remand and for stay of appeal what purports to be the referenced motion for reconsideration filed in the trial court. The same document is contained in the appendix to appellant's now-tendered brief-in-chief, and, on this latter copy, a file-mark date of October 2, 2009, is clearly visible.

Once a petitioner chooses to file a notice of appeal of an order and the appeal transcript is lodged in the appellate court, the trial court loses jurisdiction to enter any further rulings in the Rule 37.1 proceeding. See Sherman v. State, 326 Ark. 153, 931 S.W.2d 417 (1996). In the instant case, appellant's motion for reconsideration was filed in the trial court three days after his appeal was perfected. Inasmuch as the trial court was without jurisdiction to address appellant's motion, any subsequent amended order would have been without effect, even if that order merely provided rulings on the omitted issues. See id. Appellant had an obligation to obtain a ruling in order to preserve an issue for appellate review, and his failure to meet that obligation precludes us from addressing any of the omitted issues on appeal. Fisher v. State, 364 Ark. 216, 217 S.W.3d 117 (2005); see Howard, 367 Ark. at 31, 238 S.W.3d at 35. The pro se appellant receives no special consideration on appeal. See Brown v. Post–Prison Transfer Bd., 343 Ark. 118, 32 S.W.3d 754 (2000) (per curiam); Gibson v. State, 298 Ark. 43, 764 S.W.2d 617 (1989).

Because the trial court lacked jurisdiction to consider appellant's motion for reconsideration, we treat appellant's instant motion for remand as a petition to reinvest jurisdiction in the trial court to obtain rulings on the omitted issues. We decline to reinvest jurisdiction because appellant had a remedy available to him in the form of a motion for a ruling on the omitted issue timely filed before the notice of appeal was filed and the appeal perfected, and that remedy satisfies the fundamental fairness concerns of due process.

While there is no constitutional right to a postconviction proceeding, when a state undertakes to provide collateral relief, due process requires that the proceeding be fundamentally fair. Engram v. State, 360 Ark. 140, 200 S.W.3d 367 (2004); Porter v. State, 339 Ark. 15, 2 S.W.3d 73 (1999). The fundamental requirement of due process is the opportunity to be heard at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner. Ark. Dep't of Corr. v. Bailey, 368 Ark. 518, 247 S.W.3d 851 (2007). In that regard, the concept of due process requires neither an inflexible procedure universally applicable to every situation nor a technical concept with a fixed content unrelated to time, place, and circumstance. Id. Nor does due process require courts to provide an unlimited opportunity to present postconviction claims. See Maulding v. State, 299 Ark. 570, 776 S.W.2d 339 (1989) (per curiam). Thus, we have held that certain procedural requirements or other limitations on postconviction relief did not fail to provide due process. See, e.g., Robinson v. State, 295 Ark. 693, 751 S.W.2d 335 (1988) (per curiam) (holding that requiring a petition for postconviction relief to meet certain threshold requirements is fundamentally fair).

In the instant case, appellant had an opportunity to be heard insofar as there is available an exception to the Rule 37.2(d) prohibition against motions for reconsideration which allows an appellant to request a modified order from the trial court where that court initially fails to rule on an issue raised in a Rule 37.1 petition. Viveros, 2009 Ark. 548, 2009 WL 3681672; Beshears, 340 Ark. 70, 73, 8 S.W.3d 32, 34. Appellant was obviously aware of this exception, as he filed such a motion; he simply failed to file it in a timely manner before the trial court lost jurisdiction to entertain the motion. Denial of subsequent relief is fundamentally fair where a petitioner had the opportunity to pursue any available or appropriate postconviction relief, and he chose not to do so. Engram, 360 Ark. 140, 200 S.W.3d 367; accord Newman v. State, 363 Ark. 199, 211 S.W.3d 543 (2005) (Glaze, J. concurring) (stating that Engram stood for the proposition that this court has never allowed a petitioner for postconviction relief to ignore jurisdictional requirements where any delay in filing was of his own making).

While this court is cognizant of difficulties that may be caused by our procedural rules, due process does not require a separate set of rules for persons in prison. Maulding, 299 Ark. 570, 776 S.W.2d 339. All appellants, including those proceeding without counsel, are responsible for following procedural rules in perfecting an appeal. Raines v. State, 336 Ark. 49, 983 S.W.2d 424 (1999) (per curiam). One such procedural rule is to obtain a ruling from the trial court on any issue appellant wishes this court to consider on appeal. See, e.g., Howard, 367 Ark. 18, 238 S.W.3d...