Jones v. State

George JONES, Jr. v. STATE of Arkansas

CR 96-922                                          ___ S.W.2d ___

                    Supreme Court of Arkansas
               Opinion delivered September 9, 1996


Appeal & error -- motion for rule on clerk treated as motion for
     belated appeal -- good cause for granting. -- Where counsel
     stated by motion for rule on the clerk that he had
     miscalculated the number of days in which to file a notice of
     appeal and consequently filed the notice one day late, the
     supreme court treated the matter as a motion for a belated
     appeal; an admission of such an error by the attorney for a
     criminal defendant is good cause to grant the motion.


     Motion for Rule on the Clerk treated as Motion for Belated
Appeal; granted.
     Davis H. Loftin, for appellant.
     No response.

     Per Curiam.  
     Appellant George Jones, Jr., by his attorney, Davis H. Loftin,
has filed a motion for rule on the clerk.  We treat this as a
motion for a belated appeal.  Mr. Loftin states by motion that he
miscalculated the number of days in which to file a notice of
appeal and, as a result, filed the notice one day late.
     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).  The motion is therefore granted.
     A copy of this opinion will be forwarded to the Committee on
Professional Conduct.