Opinion
04-270
Opinion Delivered April 1, 2004
Petition to Amend Arkansas Supreme Court Rule 4-3(I) Granted.
The State of Arkansas and the Arkansas Public Defender Commission jointly move this court to amend Ark. Sup.Ct. R. 4-3(i), in order to more efficiently meet the duplication requirement of the rule. Rule 4-3(i) provides that an indigent appellant represented by appointed counsel or a public defender may submit a typed copy of his appellate brief to the Attorney General, who is then required to reproduce it. Under the current rule, the Attorney General is required to unbind the briefs it receives in order to reproduce them. The joint motion now before us seeks to amend the rule to require that counsel submit "one unbound double-spaced type written manuscript."
We grant the motion and hereby amend rule 4-3(i) to provide as follows:
Preparation of briefs for indigent appellants. When an indigent appellant is represented by appointed counsel or a public defender, the attorney may have the briefs reproduced by submitting one unbound double-spaced typewritten manuscript to the Attorney General and one to the Clerk not later than the due date of the brief. In such instances, the time for the filing of the Attorney General's brief is extended by five days.
Petition granted.