Opinion
CR 94-726
Opinion delivered September 19, 1994
APPEAL ERROR — NOTICE OF APPEAL FILED PRIOR TO ENTRY OF JUDGMENT HAS NO EFFECT — ADMISSION OF MISTAKE BY COUNSEL WAS GOOD CAUSE TO GRANT BELATED APPEAL. — Notice of appeal filed prior to entry of judgment was of no effect, and appellant's counsel's admission of responsibility for the mistake was good cause to grant appellant's motion for belated appeal.
Appeal from Pulaski Circuit Court, Sixth Division; David Bogard, Judge; Motion for Belated Appeal granted.
Paul Johnson, for appellant.
No response.
Dexter Dumount Mack was convicted of possession of a firearm and sentenced to six years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. Appellant's counsel, Paul Johnson, filed notice of appeal. However, the notice was filed prior to the entry of the judgment and, hence, of no effect. Ark. R. App. P. 4; Woods v. State, 316 Ark. 705, 875 S.W.2d 58 (1994); Kelly v. Kelly, 310 Ark. 244, 835 S.W.2d 869 (1992). Mr. Johnson has acknowledged his mistake in failing to determine that judgment had been entered prior to the notice of appeal and, accordingly, we grant the motion for belated appeal and direct that a copy of this order be filed with the Committee on Professional Conduct. See our Per Curiam opinion In Re: Belated Appeals in Criminal Cases, 265 Ark. 964 (1979).