Summary
The Supreme Court of Arkansas granted Demarlon Coakes’s motion for rule on clerk after determining that the record was tendered untimely in a criminal appeal. The court found attorney error, granted relief under McDonald v. State, and forwarded the opinion to the Committee on Professional Conduct.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the motion for rule on clerk should be granted when the record in a criminal appeal was tendered after the seven-month deadline established by Arkansas Rule of Appellate Procedure–Crim. 4(c)(2).
- Whether attorney error in failing to timely tender the record warranted relief and referral to the Committee on Professional Conduct.
Holdings
- A circuit court may not extend the time for filing the record in a criminal appeal beyond seven months from the date of entry of the judgment or order under Arkansas Rule of Appellate Procedure–Crim. 4(c)(2).
- A motion for rule on clerk may be granted when the record was not timely tendered because of attorney error, provided the circumstances establish a proper basis for relief under the applicable rule.
- When attorney error causes the failure to timely perfect an appeal and relief is granted, a copy of the opinion is forwarded to the Committee on Professional Conduct.
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.” (2013 Ark. 325)
Factual background
The circuit court entered a sentencing order on December 19, 2012, and Coakes filed a timely notice of appeal on January 7, 2013. Although the circuit court extended the time to file the transcript to August 7, 2013, Arkansas Rule of Appellate Procedure–Crim. 4(c)(2) limited the time for filing the record to seven months after entry of the order, making the deadline July 19, 2013. Coakes tendered the record on July 30, 2013, and the court found that his attorney was responsible for the untimely tender.
Procedural history
The circuit court entered a sentencing order on December 19, 2012. Coakes timely filed a notice of appeal, but the record was not tendered by the applicable deadline. The circuit court purported to extend the time for filing the transcript beyond the seven-month limit, and Coakes tendered the record on July 30, 2013, after the July 19 deadline. The Supreme Court of Arkansas granted the motion for rule on clerk and forwarded the opinion to the Committee on Professional Conduct because of attorney error.