Summary
The Arkansas Supreme Court granted Jarrod William Holmes's motion for rule on clerk, motion to appoint counsel, and petition for writ of certiorari. The court found good reason for the failure to timely perfect the appeal because appointed counsel had been suspended, appointed new counsel, and ordered completion of the appellate record.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the suspension of petitioner's privately retained counsel constituted good reason for failing to timely perfect the appeal and justified granting a motion for rule on clerk.
- Whether petitioner was indigent and entitled to appointment of appellate counsel.
- Whether a writ of certiorari should issue to require the Saline County Circuit Court to complete and transmit the record necessary for the appeal.
Holdings
- The suspension of petitioner's attorney during the period for lodging the complete record constituted good reason for the failure to timely perfect the appeal; the motion for rule on clerk was therefore granted.
- Petitioner was indigent and entitled to appointed counsel for the appeal; the court appointed Greg Knutson.
- A writ of certiorari should issue to the Saline County Circuit Court to bring up the remainder of the record within thirty days, after which the appellate clerk was directed to accept the complete record and permit the appeal to proceed.
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.” (at 2)
Factual background
In 2012, Jarrod William Holmes entered a guilty plea to multiple drug-related offenses and received an aggregate 360-month sentence as a habitual offender. His private attorney, Donald W. Colson, timely filed a notice of appeal, but the attorney's license was suspended during the period in which the complete appellate record had to be lodged. The circuit clerk tendered only the clerk's portion of the record, leaving the record incomplete.
Procedural history
Holmes pleaded guilty in the Saline County Circuit Court to multiple drug-related offenses and was sentenced by a jury as a habitual offender to an aggregate term of 360 months' imprisonment. His privately retained counsel timely filed a notice of appeal, but counsel was suspended before the complete record was lodged. The circuit clerk tendered only the clerk's portion of the record, and the Supreme Court of Arkansas granted the motion for rule on clerk, appointed counsel, and issued a writ of certiorari directing completion of the record.
Remand instructions
The Saline County Circuit Court was directed to bring up the remainder of the record within thirty days of the opinion. The appellate clerk was directed to accept the complete record, permit the appeal to proceed, and set a briefing schedule after receipt of the full record.