Court Opinion

ID: 9772808
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:30:31.047487+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:48.590980
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, dissenting. The majority opinion correctly recites the rule that there is a presumption that a letter mailed was received by the person to whom it was addressed. The petitioner submitted an unfiled copy of his notice of appeal. He could not have done otherwise. He made a note on the notice of appeal that copies had been mailed to the trial judge and to the Court of Appeals. This action by him is as valid as a certificate of service on an attorney’s file copy. The residents in the Arkansas Department of Correction are not equipped with the latest facilities for complying with every detail of the ever-changing rules and regulations of the courts. In the best interests of society and of justice, we should consider substantial compliance by inmates as sufficient. We should expect no more of this petitioner than we do of practicing attorneys. He was in no position to drop by the courthouse and have the clerk file-stamp his copy. He submitted proof that he had mailed the motion to the clerk and other proper parties. That, quite simply, is all that should be required of him. Notice of appeal is “filed” by a pro se prisoner when he delivers it to prison authorities. Houston v. Lack, 56 U.S.L.W. 4728 (June 24, 1988). If we follow Houston we do not have to search for a way to deny this appeal because there is no way to do so under the facts in this case. The majority evades the real issue here by limiting the Houston opinion to federal prisoners. I am of the opinion that Due Process applies to an individual regardless of whether he is incarcerated by the United States or a state.