Court Opinion

ID: 9363982
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-01-17 22:17:37.241805+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:15:35.232658
License: Public Domain

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                                                                                                            01/17/2023

            IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA                                                Case Number: DA 23-0025

                                       DA 23-0025

                                                                                FiLLO
 STATE OF MONTANA,
                                                                                 JAN 1 7 2023
             Plaintiff and Appellee,                                          Bowen Gr eenwooct
                                                                            C1 -!,r, of Supreme Court
                                                                               State of Montana

       v.                                                                          ORDER

 BRANDI ALICE CLARKE,

             Defendant and Appellant.

       Chad Wright, Appellate Defender, petitions for an out-of-time appeal for Brandi
Alice Clarke from the order entered on August 25, 2022, by the Twenty-First Judicial
District Court, Ravalli County, in Cause No. DC 21-196. The Attorney General's Office
does not object to this motion.
       Wright asserts that Clarke's trial attorney timely referred Clarke's case to the
Appellate Defender Division (ADD) on September 12, 2022. However, due to a clerical
error at ADD, a Notice of Appeal was not timely filed.
       Wright asserts that it would be unjust to deny Clarke the right to appeal when the
untimeliness of the Notice of Appeal was caused by an error or oversight out of Clarke's
control.
       We grant out-of-time appeals under M. R. App. P. 4(6) when an appellant
establishes the existence of "extraordinary circumstances amounting to a gross miscarriage
of justice," which would exist if we were to deny the petition here.
       IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the petition for an out-of-time appeal is
GRANTED.
       IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Office of Appellate Defender shall have 30
days from the date of this Order within which to prepare, file, and serve a Notice of Appeal
and a Request for Transcripts, if necessary, in cornpliance with the Montana Rules of
Appellate Procedure.
      The Clerk is directed to provide copies of this Order to all counsel of record.
      DATED this Irc--
                    lay ofJanuary, 2023.

                                                               Chief Justice

                                                    „6/          Justices

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