Opinion
CR 00-1173
November 2, 2000
Appeal error — motion for rule on clerk — good cause for granting. — An admission by an attorney for a criminal defendant that the record was tendered late due to a mistake on his part is good cause to grant a motion for rule on the clerk.
Motion for Rule on the Clerk; granted.
Mason Law Firm, PLC, by: W. Blair Brady, for appellant.
No response.
Appellant, Carl Rankin Newhard, by his attorney, W. Blair Brady, has filed a motion for rule on the clerk. On June 6, 2000, the Benton County Circuit Court entered a judgment and commitment order accepting Newhard's guilty plea to two counts of rape and one count of first-degree sexual abuse, finding him guilty as charged, and sentencing him to twenty-five years' imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Correction, with credit for one day in custody before sentencing and a five years' suspended sentence. Newhard then filed a timely notice of appeal on June 13, 2000. Pursuant to Ark. R. App. P.-Civ. 5(a), (2000), the record on appeal was due to be filed with the Supreme Court Clerk by September 11, 2000. On September 11, 2000, Newhard filed a motion for and received an extension of time to lodge the record on appeal until October 6, 2000.
[1] The record was not tendered until October 12, 2000. Mr. Brady admits in the instant motion that the record was tendered late due to a mistake on his part. We find that such an error, admittedly made by the attorney for a criminal defendant, is good cause to grant the motion. See In Re: Belated Appeals in Criminal Cases, 265 Ark. 964 (1979) (per curiam). Accordingly, we grant the motion for rule on the clerk. A copy of this opinion will be forwarded to the Committee on Professional Conduct. Id.