1 Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 37.2(c) provides that a petition under the rule
must be filed within ninety days of the date the judgment was entered if the petitioner pleaded
guilty. At the Rule 37.1 hearing, the trial court set out the basis for finding that petitioner’s Rule
37.1 petition was timely filed. The judgment was entered on October 4, 2006, and the ninetieth
day after entry of the judgment was Monday, January 2, 2007. That day was declared by the
federal government to be a day honoring the late President Ford, and the post offices were closed.
Therefore, petitioner’s Rule 37.1 petition, filed on January 3, 2007, was timely filed.
ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT
No. CR 071206
BOBBY JOE OLLES
Petitioner
v.
STATE OF ARKANSAS
Respondent
Opinion Delivered
January 31, 2008
PRO SE MOTION FOR BELATED
APPEAL [CIRCUIT COURT OF WHITE
COUNTY, CR 2006204]
MOTION DENIED.
PER CURIAM
In 2006, petitioner Bobby Joe Olles entered a plea of guilty to five counts of theft by
receiving. He was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment on each of four counts to be served
concurrently. On the fifth count, he was sentenced to sixty months’ imprisonment to be served
consecutively to the other counts. Subsequently, he timely filed in the trial court a verified pro se
petition for relief pursuant to Ark. R. Crim. P. 37.1. 1 The trial court denied the petition in an order
entered onMarch 20, 2007. Petitioner filed a notice of appeal on May 2, 2007, fortythree days later.
A notice must be filed within thirty days of the final order pursuant to Ark. R. App. P.–Civ. 4(a).
As the notice of appeal was untimely filed, petitioner has filed in this court a pro se motion
for belated appeal pursuant to Ark. R. App. P.–Crim. 2(e). A petitioner has the right to appeal a
2
ruling on a petition for postconviction relief. See Scott v. State, 281 Ark. 436, 664 S.W.2d 475
(1984) (per curiam). However, along with that right goes the responsibility to timely file a notice of
appeal wi