Danny Gipson v. State of Arkansas

ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

PER CURIAM

JANUARY 9, 2003

DANNY GIPSON

Petitioner

v.

STATE OF ARKANSAS

Respondent

CR 02-636

PRO SE PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI, MOTION AND AMENDED MOTION FOR APPOINTMENT OF COUNSEL, AND MOTIONS FOR EXTENSION OF BRIEF TIME [CIRCUIT COURT OF CRAWFORD COUNTY, NO. CR 2000-82B, HON. FLOYD G. ROGERS, JUDGE]

APPEAL DISMISSED; PETITION AND MOTIONS MOOT

Petitioner was found guilty in a jury trial of arson and was sentenced as a habitual offender to 30 years' imprisonment. The court of appeals affirmed. Gipson v. State, CACR 01-408 (Ark. App. Dec. 5, 2001). Petitioner subsequently filed in the trial court a petition for postconviction relief pursuant to Ark. R. Cr. P. 37.1.

The circuit court apparently denied the petition, although no such order has been presented to this court. What has been lodged here by petitioner is a pro se appeal of the order entered March 19, 2002, that denied petitioner's motion to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal. The request to proceed as an indigent arose from petitioner's desire to have the Rule 37 appeal record prepared at public expense.

Now before us are a petition for writ of certiorari and several motions filed by petitioner in the appeal from the order denying him indigent status. Because we find that the record lodged by petitioner does not contain a notice of appeal from the order of March 19, 2002, we dismiss the appeal. The petition for writ of certiorari and motions are moot.

The filing of a timely notice of appeal is necessary, and an appeal record which does not contain a timely notice of appeal is incomplete. Here, the notice of appeal provided by petitioner is from the order that denied the Rule 37 petition, not from the order that denied the motion to proceed in forma pauperis. As a result, the record is not adequate to establish this court's jurisdiction.1

Appeal dismissed; petition and motions moot.

1 Petitioner Gipson has tendered to this court a motion seeking to proceed with a belated appeal of the order that denied the Rule 37 petition, but he has not submitted the certified partial record necessary to file the motion.