Stewart v. State

Sam STEWART v. STATE of Arkansas

CR 97-942                                          ___ S.W.2d ___

                    Supreme Court of Arkansas
              Opinion delivered September 11, 1997


Appeal & error -- motion for rule on clerk treated as motion for belated 
     appeal -- good cause for granting. -- An admission by an attorney
     for a criminal defendant that the notice of appeal was
     untimely filed due to negligence on his part is good cause to
     treat a motion for rule on the clerk as one for belated appeal
     and to grant the motion.


     Motion for Belated Appeal and Rule on the Clerk Treated as
Motion for Belated Appeal; granted.
     Irwin Law Firm, by: Robert E. Irwin, for appellant.
     No response.

     Per Curiam. 
     The appellant, Sam Stewart, has filed a motion styled, "Motion
to File Belated Appeal and for a Rule on the Clerk."  Mr. Stewart's
attorney, Robert E. Irwin, admits that the notice of appeal was
untimely filed due to negligence on his part. 
     We find that such an error, admittedly made by the attorney
for a criminal defendant, is good cause to treat this motion as one
for belated appeal and grant the motion.  See In Re: Belated
Appeals in Criminal Cases, 265 Ark. 964 (1979) (per curiam).  A
copy of this opinion will be forwarded to the Committee on
Professional Conduct.