Case Title: Darnell Burks v. State of Arkansas

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: arkansas

Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Date: 1997-05-27T00:00:00Z

Document:
Darnell BURKS v. STATE of Arkansas

CR 97-468                                          ___ S.W.2d ___

                    Supreme Court of Arkansas
                 Opinion delivered May 27, 1997


1.   Appeal & error -- counsel charged with knowledge of when final order is
     entered and is responsible for filing timely notice of appeal. -- Counsel
     is charged with knowledge of when a final order is entered in
     a case and is responsible for filing a timely notice of appeal
     from the final judgment.

2.   Appeal & error -- failure of counsel to perfect appeal in criminal case -
     - good cause for granting belated appeal. -- The failure of counsel
     to perfect an appeal in a criminal case where the defendant
     desires an appeal constitutes a denial of effective assistance
     of counsel and is good cause for granting a belated appeal.


     Motion for Belated Appeal; granted.
     Deborah R. Sallings, Deputy Public Defender, for appellant.
     No response.

     Per Curiam. 
     Darnell Burks, by his attorney Deborah R. Sallings, Deputy
Public Defender for the Sixth Judicial District, has filed a motion
for belated appeal.
     On October 2, 1996, Burks was sentenced to twenty years'
imprisonment on a petition to revoke probation.  Mr. Ed Webb
represented Burks at the revocation and sentencing hearings.  On
October 24, 1996, Burks filed a pro se motion for appeal.  The
record does not reflect that Mr. Webb was served with a copy of the
motion.  However, on November 1, 1996, Mr. Webb filed a notice of
appeal from the revocation.  On November 22, 1996, Burks filed a
second pro se notice of appeal.  Once again, the record does not
reflect that Mr. Webb was served with a copy of this notice.  On
November 27, 1996, an amended judgment and commitment order was
filed, although no earlier judgment appears in the record.     
     No notice of appeal was filed by Burks or his attorney, Mr.
Webb, within thirty days of the amended judgment and commitment
order.  On January 24, 1997, the trial court relieved Mr. Webb as
counsel and appointed the public defender to represent Burks. 
Shortly thereafter, on January 30, 1997, the public defender filed
a notice of appeal on behalf of Burks.  
     The record reflects that Burks desired an appeal from the
revocation of his probation.  The record further reflects that his
attorney, Mr. Webb, was aware of his desire to appeal, having filed
a notice of appeal on November 1, 1996.  However, Mr. Webb did not
file a notice of appeal from the amended judgment.
     Counsel is charged with knowledge of when a final order is
entered in a case, and is responsible for filing a timely notice of
appeal from the final judgment.  Higgins v. State, 326 Ark. 1030,
1039,  936 S.W.2d 740 (1996).  The failure of counsel to perfect an
appeal in a criminal case where the defendant desires an appeal
constitutes a denial of effective assistance of counsel and is good
cause for granting a belated appeal.  Blakely v. State, 279 Ark.
141, 649 S.W.2d 187 (1983); Surridge v. State, 276 Ark. 596,