Case Name: William Ray CHASE, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1998-07-29
Citations: 779 So. 2d 278
Docket Number: No. 98-01604
Parties: William Ray CHASE, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.
Judges: CAMPBELL, A.C.J., and QUINCE and NORTHCUTT, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 779
Pages: 278–278

Head Matter:
William Ray CHASE, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.
No. 98-01604.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.
July 29, 1998.
William R. Chase, pro se.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Helene S. Parnés, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Respondent.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
In 1981 William Ray Chase was sentenced to one hundred years in prison. He alleges that his recuperation from serious gunshot wounds prevented him from knowing that counsel had failed to file a notice of appeal from his judgment and sentence, as had been promised. This year, his medical condition apparently stabilized, Chase has filed a petition for a belated appeal pursuant to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.140(j), alleging trial counsel failed to timely appeal his sentence. The time limitations of rule 9.140(j)(3) do not become effective until January 1, 1999.
The Third District recently held that an unreasonable delay after the incident leading to the failure to appeal bars relief based upon laches. See Hurtado v. Singletary, 708 So.2d 974 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998) (relying in part upon the supreme court's pronouncement in McCray v. State, 699 So.2d 1366 (Fla.1997), that attacks on appellate counsel are presumed untimely five years after a conviction becomes final); see also Brown v. State, 711 So.2d 236 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998) (listing a collection of decisions that apply laches to forbid relief seeking belated appeals). We agree with the reasoning of HuHado. Chase's delay of seventeen years exceeds the periods of delay in several of the cases recited in Brown for which relief was prohibited.
Petition for belated appeal denied.
CAMPBELL, A.C.J., and QUINCE and NORTHCUTT, JJ., concur.