Lee Edward Stokes v. State of Arkansas

ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT

No. CR 05-662

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

LEE EDWARD STOKES

Appellant

v.

STATE OF ARKANSAS

Appellee

Opinion Delivered January 19, 2006

PRO SE MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION [CIRCUIT COURT OF PULASKI COUNTY, CR 2002-3613, HON. TIMOTHY DAVIS FOX, JUDGE]

MOTION DENIED

PER CURIAM

Lee Edward Stokes was convicted of capital murder and two counts of battery in the first degree and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. We affirmed that conviction. Stokes v. State, ___ Ark. ___, ____ S.W.3d ____(October 7, 2004). Stokes filed a pro se petition for postconviction relief with the trial court under Ark. R. Crim. P. 37.1, and the petition was denied. Stokes lodged an appeal in this court, which was dismissed in an unpublished opinion. Stokes v. State, CR 05-662 (Ark. October 6, 2005) (per curiam). Appellant Stokes now requests reconsideration of our decision to dismiss the appeal.

Appellant's appeal was dismissed because the petition was not timely filed. Appellant asserts that his petition was timely filed because it was placed in the mail within the required period for filing. We have declined to adopt the prison mail-box rule that is accepted in some courts, and which provides that a pro se inmate files his or her petition at the time the petition is placed in the hands of prison officials for mailing. Hamel v. State, 338 Ark. 769, 1 S.W.3d 434 (1999). An item tendered to a court is considered tendered on the date it is received by the clerk, not on the date it may have been placed in the mail. Appellant's petition was therefore untimely, and we accordingly decline to reconsider our decision.

Motion denied.