Green v. State
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT
No.
CR 08-1473
Opinion Delivered
PANTHENIE GREEN
Appellant
v.
STATE OF ARKANSAS
Appellee
April 2, 2009
PRO SE MOTIONS FOR RECORD AT
PUBLIC EXPENSE AND FOR
EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE
APPELLANT’S BRIEF [CIRCUIT
COURT OF CRAIGHEAD COUNTY,
WESTERN DISTRICT, CR 2006-471,
HON. JOHN N. FOGLEMAN, JUDGE]
APPEAL DISMISSED; MOTIONS
MOOT.
PER CURIAM
A judgment entered on March 10, 2008, reflects that appellant Panthenie Green entered a
negotiated plea of guilty or nolo contendere to rape and was sentenced to 168 months’ incarceration.
On July 9, 2008, appellant filed in the trial court a petition to vacate under Arkansas Rule of Civil
Procedure 60. The court denied the petition as untimely and appellant lodged an appeal of the order
in this court. Appellant has filed motions requesting the record be provided to him and an extension
of time to file his brief. Because we dismiss the appeal, the motions are moot.
An appeal of the denial of postconviction relief will not be permitted to go forward where
it is clear that the appellant could not prevail. Booth v. State, 353 Ark. 119, 110 S.W.3d 759 (2003)
(per curiam). This court has consistently held that Rule 60 does not provide an avenue for
postconviction relief. State v. Rowe, 374 Ark. 19, ___ S.W.3d ___ (2008); State v. Wilmoth, 369
Ark. 346, 255 S.W.3d 419 (2007); McArty v. State, 364 Ark. 517, 221 S.W.3d 332 (2006) (per
curiam). We have acknowledged that the theory behind Rule 60 has been applied in those criminal
cases where we recognized a court’s power to correct a judgment nunc pro tunc to make it speak the
truth. Dawson v. State, 343 Ark. 683, 38 S.W.3d 319 (2001). Appellant’s petition did not seek to
correct the judgment; it sought to challenge the judgment through a collateral attack, as may be
appropriate through a timely petition for postconviction relief under Arkansas Rule of Criminal
Procedure 37.1.
The trial court could not treat the petition to vacate as a petition for postconviction relief
under Rule 37.1 because, as such, it would not have been timely. Where a conviction was obtained
on a plea of guilty, Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37.2(c) requires that the petition for
postconviction relief must be filed within ninety days of the entry of the judgment. In this case, the
petition to vacate was filed 121 days after the judgment was entered. The time limitations imposed
in Rule 37.2(c) are jurisdictional in nature, and the circuit court may not grant relief on an untimely
petition. Womack v. State, 368 Ark. 341, 245 S.W.3d 154 (2006) (per curiam). The trial court had
no jurisdiction to consider the petition under either Rule 60 or Rule 37.1. Because appellant cannot
prevail on appeal, the appeal is dismissed and the motions are moot.
Appeal dismissed; motions moot.
-2-
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
