McLeod v. State
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Cite as 2009 Ark. 486
SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS
No.
CR08-262
WILLIE CLARENCE McLEOD,
APPELLANT,
Opinion Delivered October 8, 2009
MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF
TIME TO FILE SUBSTITUTED BRIEF
VS.
STATE OF ARKANSAS,
APPELLEE,
GRANTED.
PER CURIAM
Appellant, Willie Clarence McLeod, by and through his attorney, Brian Williams, has
filed a motion for extension of time to file his substituted brief. McLeod’s appeal was certified
to this court by the court of appeals on June 26, 2009. Following certification, our clerk’s
office wrote to counsel to notify him that the addendum that he had filed did not include the
trial court’s order denying McLeod’s pro se motion for postconviction relief or the notice of
appeal filed from that order. Therefore, counsel was ordered to file, within fifteen days, a
substituted brief that included those two documents. That substituted brief was due on July
11, 2009.
On June 15, 2009, counsel was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery in
August. In addition, in July, counsel experienced other serious family health problems and,
as a result, he did not file his substituted brief by the July 11, 2009 deadline. On September
18, 2009, our clerk’s office wrote to counsel to inform him that, if the court did not receive
CR08-262
Cite as 2009 Ark. 486
a brief and a motion to file a belated brief within ten days, the clerk’s office would be
“compelled to report this matter to the court for any action [it] deem[s] to be appropriate.”
Counsel filed the instant motion on September 28, 2009, outlining his reasons for
being late in filing his substituted brief and asking the court for an additional forty-five days
in which to file the brief. We will accept a criminal appellant’s belated brief to prevent an
appeal from being aborted.
Johnson v. State, 374 Ark. 219, 296 S.W.3d727 (2008) (per
curiam); Brown v. State, 373 Ark. 453, 284 S.W.3d 481 (2008) (per curiam). However, good
cause must be shown to grant the motion. Strom v. State, 356 Ark. 224, 147 S.W.3d 689
(2004) (per curiam) (holding that appellate counsel’s admitted failure to timely file the brief
constituted good cause to grant motion for belated brief).
Counsel acknowledges that he has failed to file the substituted brief as scheduled.
Accordingly, we grant his motion for additional time. However, we feel that forty-five days
is excessive, and grant counsel fifteen days to file the substituted brief. In addition, we refer
the matter to the Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct for any appropriate
action.
-2-
CR08-262
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