Summary
The Arkansas Supreme Court considered Clay Breeden’s motion for rule on clerk after the record in his criminal appeal was tendered one day late. The court found good cause based on defense counsel’s illness and granted the motion.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Breeden was entitled to relief on a motion for rule on clerk when the appellate record was tendered one day late because of counsel's illness and the failure of another public defender to file the required motion.
Holdings
- Good cause was shown for the one-day delay in tendering the appellate record, so the motion for rule on clerk was granted.
Key quotations
“Where an appeal is not timely perfected, either the party or attorney filing the appeal is at fault, or there is good reason that the appeal was not timely perfected.”
“When it is plain from the motion, affidavits, and record that relief is proper under either rule based on error or good reason, the relief will be granted.”
Factual background
The circuit court accepted Breeden's guilty plea in 2009 and sentenced him to seventy-two months' supervised probation. In 2012, the court revoked probation and sentenced him to sixty months' imprisonment. Although Breeden timely filed his notice of appeal, the record was tendered one day late because his attorney was ill and hospitalized and the other public defender did not file the required motion.
Procedural history
Breeden pleaded guilty in circuit court to possession of a Schedule II controlled substance and possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia to manufacture methamphetamine. He received seventy-two months' supervised probation, which was later revoked, resulting in a sixty-month prison sentence. He timely filed a notice of appeal, but the record was tendered one day after the deadline, prompting his motion for rule on clerk in the Supreme Court of Arkansas.