Opinion
Delivered February 5, 1979.
In Re Belated Appeals in Criminal Cases. In Harkness v. State, 264 Ark. 561 (1978), where counsel for the appellant in a criminal case had miscalculated the 90-day limit for filing the record in this court, we explained that we were permitting the case to be docketed for the reason that otherwise the appellant would be in a position to obtain a new trial or a belated appeal on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel. We have taken the same action in a number of other cases, but applications for permission to file such belated appeals are becoming much too numerous.
The controlling rule provides: "The Supreme Court may act upon and decide a case in which the notice of appeal was not given of the transcript of the trial record was not filed in the time prescribed, when a good reason for the omission is shown by affidavit." (Italics supplied.) Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 36.9 (1976). The purpose of the exception, to take care of hardship cases, is being disregarded, in that counsel tender out-of-time transcripts without a good reason for the delay. In order to put the responsibility where it belongs, on the shoulders of the lawyer who is at fault, hereafter when no good cause for the error is shown, the court will publish a per curiam order allowing the appeal, giving the name of the lawyer, and stating why no good reason has been shown for the omission. A copy of the order will be sent to the court's Committee on Professional Conduct, to be kept in its files for the Committee's information if any compliant of any kind should later be filed against that lawyer.