Case Title: Camp v. State

Citation: 2010 Ark. 193

Docket Number: 

State: arkansas

Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Date: 2010-04-22T00:00:00Z

Document:
Cite as 2010 Ark. 193 SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS No. CR 10-290 WYOUMAN DAVID CAMP Petitioner v. STATE OF ARKANSAS Respondent Opinion Delivered April 22, 2010 PRO SE MOTION FOR BELATED APPEAL AND FOR APPOINTMENT OF COUNSEL [CIRCUIT COURT OF HOWARD COUNTY, CR 2008- 93, HON. CHARLES YEARGAN, JUDGE] MOTIONS GRANTED. PER CURIAM In 2009, petitioner Wyouman David Camp was found guilty by a jury of being an accomplice to murder in the first degree and sentenced to life imprisonment. Petitioner was represented at trial by his retained attorney, Paul Hoover. No appeal was taken, and petitioner has filed the pro se motion for belated appeal pursuant to Arkansas Rule of Appellate Procedure–Criminal 2(e) (2010) that is now before us. Petitioner seeks to proceed with the direct appeal of the judgment and also asks that an attorney be appointed to represent him on appeal. He has submitted an affidavit of indigency, and the State has not contested his claim to be indigent. When judgment is entered in a criminal case and the trial attorney is made aware by the convicted defendant that the defendant desires to appeal within the thirty-day period from the date of judgment allowed by Arkansas Rule of Appellate Procedure–Criminal 2(a) for Cite as 2010 Ark. 193 filing a notice of appeal, counsel is obligated to file a timely notice of appeal. Spillers v. State, 341 Ark. 749, 19 S.W.3d 35 (2000) (per curiam). A first appeal from a judgment of conviction in a criminal case is a matter of right. State v. Rowe, 374 Ark. 19, 285 S.W.3d 614 (2008). Under no circumstances may counsel simply abandon the convicted defendant if timely advised of the desire to appeal from the judgment. Thompson v. State, 2009 Ark. 342, ___ S.W.3d ___ (per curiam). Arkansas Rule of Appellate Procedure Criminal 16(a) provides that trial counsel, whether retained or court appointed, shall continue to represent a convicted defendant throughout any appeal, unless permitted by the trial court or the appellate court to withdraw in the interest of justice or for other sufficient cause. Evans v. State, 370 Ark. 427, 260 S.W.3d 265 (2007) (per curiam). Petitioner here avers that he timely advised Mr. Hoover of his desire to appeal. Ordinarily, when a petitioner claims in a motion for belated appeal that he timely advised his attorney, who was not relieved as counsel by the trial court before the time to file a notice of appeal elapsed, to appeal from a judgment but no notice of appeal was filed, this court remands the matter to the circuit court. See Gooden v. State, 344 Ark. 291, 40 S.W.3d 271 (2001) (per curiam). In the trial court an evidentiary hearing can be held to determine from testimony by the petitioner and the trial attorney whether counsel was indeed timely informed by petitioner that he desired to appeal. In the instant case, however, we take judicial notice that Mr. Hoover died in October 2009, and thus remanding for an evidentiary hearing would be of little value. For this reason, and noting that the State has not filed a -2- Cite as 2010 Ark. 193 response opposing either the motion for belated appeal or the motion for appointment of counsel, we grant leave to proceed with a belated appeal of the judgment and appoint attorney Jarrod Russell to represent appellant. As only a partial record of the lower court proceedings has been filed here and the newly appointed attorney would be unfamiliar with the record, a writ of certiorari is issued to bring up the entire record for the appeal. The writ is returnable in thirty days. When the full record is lodged, our clerk is directed to set a briefing schedule for the appeal. Motions granted. -3-