ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT
No. CR 0899
CHRISTOPHER B. WEST
Petitioner
v.
STATE OF ARKANSAS
Respondent
Opinion Delivered
March 6, 2008
PRO SE MOTION FOR RULE ON
CLERK [CIRCUIT COURT OF
PULASKI COUNTY, CR 200673, HON.
JOHN LANGSTON, JUDGE]
MOTION FOR RULE ON CLERK
TREATED AS MOTION FOR
BELATED APPEAL AND DENIED.
PER CURIAM
In 2006, petitioner Christopher B. West was found guilty by a jury of robbery, theft of
property, and resisting arrest. He was sentenced as a habitual offender to an aggregate term of 480
months’ imprisonment. The Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed. West v. State, CACR06949 (Ark.
App. May 23, 2007). Subsequently, petitioner filed in the trial court a petition for relief pursuant to
Ark. R. Crim. P. 37.1. The trial court denied the petition in an order entered on November 21, 2007.
Petitioner filed a notice of appeal on December 27, 2007, which was thirtysix days later. A notice
of appeal must be filed within thirty days of the final order pursuant to Ark. R. App. P.–Civ. 4(a).
The clerk of our court correctly declined to lodge the record on appeal because the notice of appeal
was untimely filed.
Now before us is petitioner’s pro se motion for rule on clerk under Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 22(b)
seeking to proceed with the appeal of the November 21, 2007, order. As the notice of appeal filed
in the trial court was untimely, we treat the motion for rule on clerk as a motion for belated appeal
pursuant to Ark. R. App. P.–Crim. 2(e). See Johnson v. State, 342 Ark. 709, 30 S.W.3d 715 (2000)
2
(per curiam)Íž see also Muhammed v. State, 330 Ark. 759, 957 S.W.2d 692 (1997) (per curiam).
A petitioner has the right to appeal a 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 within thirty days of the date the order was entered.
If a petitioner fails to timely file a notice of appeal, a belated appeal will not be