Title: Jonathan Tyler Summons v. State of Arkansas
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: CR05-496
State: Arkansas
Issuer: Arkansas Supreme Court
Date: March 2, 2006

ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT No. CR 05-496 NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION JONATHAN TYLER SUMMONS Appellant v. STATE OF ARKANSAS Appellee Opinion Delivered March 2, 2006 PRO SE APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF PULASKI COUNTY, CR 2002-4312, HON. JOHN W. LANGSTON, JUDGE AFFIRMED PER CURIAM In 2003, a jury found Jonathan Tyler Summons guilty of aggravated robbery, theft of property and fleeing, and sentenced him to 120 months' imprisonment on the aggravated robbery charge, a $500 fine on the theft-of-property charge, and twelve months' imprisonment on the fleeing charge. The sentences for aggravated robbery and fleeing were to be served consecutively, for a total of 132 months' imprisonment. Summons appealed the judgment, and the Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed in an unpublished opinion. Summons v. State, CACR 03-1102 (Ark. App. September 8, 2004). The mandate issued on September 28, 2004. Summons filed a petition for postconviction relief under Ark. R. Crim. P. 37.1 in the trial court on January 21, 2005. The trial court dismissed the petition as untimely. Summons now brings this appeal of that order. Appellant Summons argues on appeal that his petition should not have been dismissed as untimely because he did not file a notice of appeal on any charge other than the fleeing charge. He is mistaken. The record shows the appeal was filed as to the judgment entered on Pulaski County Circuit Court case number 2002-4312, which included all three charges. As the court of appeals noted in its opinion on direct appeal, the judgment before them included all three charges, although only the conviction on the fleeing charge was challenged. Under Ark. R. Crim. P. 37.2(c), a petition for postconviction relief sought under Rule 37.1 must be filed within sixty days after the mandate is issued. In this case, the appellant filed his petition 115 days after the mandate was issued. The State correctly notes that, even had appellant received a separate judgment on the aggravated robbery and theft of property charges, and that separate judgment was not appealed, his petition would not have been timely. Where a petitioner is found guilty and does not appeal the judgment, Rule 37.2(c) requires the petition to be filed within ninety days of the judgment. Here, the judgment was entered more than a year before appellant filed his petition. The time limitations imposed in Rule 37.2(c) are jurisdictional in nature, and the trial court may not grant relief on a petition for postconviction relief which is not properly filed. Benton v. State, 325 Ark. 246, 925 S.W.2d 401 (1996) (per curiam). The trial court did not err in dismissing the petition as untimely. Moreover, as the State asserts, appellant's petition was not properly verified. Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37.1(d) requires that the petition be verified. While the petition included a form that purported to be a verification, the statement was not notarized, despite having a form for notarization included beneath the statement. Because the statement was not under oath, it did not act as a proper verification. Appellant's petition clearly did not comply with the requirements of the rule. Affirmed.