James Avery Slack v. State of Arkansas

James SLACK v. STATE of Arkansas

CR 99-809 ___ S.W.2d ___

Supreme Court of Arkansas

Opinion delivered October 21, 1999

Appeal & error -- motion for belated appeal -- good cause for

granting. -- An admission by an attorney for a criminal defendant that the appeal was not timely filed due to a mistake on his part is good cause to grant a motion for belated appeal.

Motion for Rule Belated Appeal; granted.

Kenneth G. Fuchs, for appellant.

No response.

Per Curiam. Appellant James Slack filed a motion for belated appeal. We previously denied the motion because Appellant's attorney, Kenneth G. Fuchs, did not admit fault in failing to file a timely notice of appeal. See Slack v. State, 338 Ark. 643, ___ S.W.2d ___ (1999)(per curiam). We indicated, however, that we would grant the motion if Appellant's attorney filed an affidavit accepting full responsibility for failing to file a timely notice of appeal. Appellant's attorney has assumed full responsibility for the error in an affidavit filed October 8, 1999.

We find that such error, admittedly made by the attorney for a criminal defendant, is good cause to grant the motion. SeeJohnson v. State, 332 Ark. 78, 959 S.W.2d 54 (1998) (per curiam); Harkness v. State, 264 Ark. 561, 572 S.W.2d 835 (1978). A copy of this per curiam opinion will be forwarded to the Committee on Professional Conduct. See In Re: Belated Appeals in Criminal Cases, 265 Ark. 964 (1979) (per curiam).