Title: Darwin Gaye v. State of Arkansas
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: CR07-814
State: Arkansas
Issuer: Arkansas Supreme Court
Date: October 25, 2007

ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT No. CR 07­814 DARWIN GAYE Petitioner v. STATE OF ARKANSAS Respondent Opinion Delivered October 25, 2007 PRO SE MOTION FOR BELATED APPEAL OF JUDGMENT OF CONVICTION [CIRCUIT COURT OF PULASKI COUNTY, CR 2006­2226] MOTION DENIED. PER CURIAM On January 24, 2007, judgment was entered reflecting that petitioner Darwin Gaye had entered a plea of guilty to rape, residential burglary and kidnapping for which the court imposed an aggregate sentence of 1,080 months’ imprisonment. Petitioner now asks this court to permit him to proceed with a belated appeal of the judgment. He contends in the motion that he was found guilty of the offenses in a bench trial. Pursuant to Ark. R. App. P.­­Crim. 1, there is ordinarily no right to appeal from a judgment entered on a plea of guilty. The exceptions are: a conditional plea of guilty premised on an appeal of the denial of a suppression motion pursuant to Ark. R. Crim. P. 24.3(b); when there is a challenge to testimony or evidence presented before a jury in a sentencing hearing separate from the plea itself; when the appeal is from a post­trial motion challenging the validity and legality of the sentence itself. See Seibs v. State, 357 Ark. 331, 166 S.W.3d 16 (2004); see also Bradford v. State, 351 Ark. 394, 94 S.W.3d 904 (2003). Absent one of the exceptions, a defendant waives his right to appeal when ­2­ he pleads guilty. Berry v. City of Fayetteville, 354 Ark. 470, 125 S.W.3d 171 (2003); Barnett v. State, 336 Ark. 165, 984 S.W.2d 444 (1999). The partial record lodged by petitioner with respect to his motion does not support petitioner’s claim that he was found guilty in a trial to the court. The record consists only of the judgment of conviction, the face of which unequivocally provides that a plea of guilty was entered. The judgment does not reflect that the plea fell within any of the recognized exceptions that allow an appeal. As petitioner has failed to present a record that demonstrates that he was entitled to pursue an appeal, the motion for belated appeal is denied. Motion denied. Brown, J., not participating.