Craft v. State

ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

PER CURIAM

MARCH 29, 2001

EDWARD CRAFT

Petitioner

v.

STATE OF ARKANSAS

Respondent

CR 86-10

PRO SE MOTION FOR PHOTOCOPY OF POSTCONVICTION APPEAL RECORD AND OTHER MATERIAL AT PUBLIC EXPENSE (CIRCUIT COURT OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, DISTRICT, NO. CR 80-60-1)

MOTION DENIED

In 1980, Edward Craft pleaded guilty to capital felony murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. He subsequently filed a petition for postconviction relief pursuant to Criminal Procedure Rule 37 in the trial court. The petition was denied, and we affirmed the order on appeal. Craft v. State, 289 Ark. 466, 712 S.W.2d 303 (1986).

Craft, who contends that he is indigent and invokes the Freedom of Information Act, now seeks at public expense a copy of the postconviction appeal record and other material filed on appeal. As grounds for the request petitioner asserts that (1) an indigent defendent is entitled to a free copy of material filed in an appeal; (2) he was denied effective assistance of counsel when he pleaded guilty; (3) the records will demonstrate that he was illegally charged with capital felony murder rather than first-degree murder; and (4) he was denied his right to appeal.

The motion is denied. First, with respect to petitioner's claim that he was denied his rightto appeal, there is no appeal from an unconditional plea of guilty. Ark. R. Crim. Proc. 36.1.1 With respect to the Freedom of Information Act, the Act, codified as Ark. Code Ann. § 25-19-101 et seq, does not require an appellate court to provide photocopying at public expense. See Moore v. State, 324 Ark. 453, 921 S.W.2d 606 (1996). A petitioner is not entitled to a free copy of material on file with this court unless he demonstrates some compelling need for specific documentary evidence to support an allegation contained in a petition for postconviction relief. See Austin v. State, 287 Ark. 256, 697 S.W.2d 914 (1985). Indigency alone does not entitle a petitioner to a free photocopying. Washington v. State, 270 Ark. 840, 606 S.W.2d 365 (1980). As the petitioner here was convicted approximately twenty years ago and has already proceeded under our postconviction rule, he has not shown that there is some postconviction remedy available to him which requires that a copy of the material on file here be provided to him at public expense.

It should be noted that when an appeal has been lodged here, the record and other material filed on appeal remain permanently on file with the clerk. Persons may review a record or other material in the clerk's office and photocopy all or portions of it. An incarcerated person desiring a photocopy of a record or other material on file may write this court, remit the photocopying fee, and request that the copy be mailed to the prison. All persons, including prisoners, must bear the cost of photocopying. Moore, supra.

Motion denied.

1 Rule 36-1 is now Rule 1(a) of the Rules of Appellate Procedural-Criminal.