Rudrud v. State
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Cite as 2010 Ark. 439
SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS
No.
CR 10-429
Opinion Delivered
DEBRA J. RUDRUD
Appellant
v.
STATE OF ARKANSAS
Appellee
November 11, 2010
APPELLANT’S PRO SE MOTION TO FILE
BELATED BRIEF AND APPELLEE’S
MOTION TO DISMISS APPEAL FOR
FAILURE TO FILE BRIEF [CIRCUIT
COURT OF BENTON COUNTY, CR 2007875, CR 2009-806, CR 2009-1191, HON.
DAVID S. CLINGER, JUDGE]
APPEAL DISMISSED; APPELLANT’S
MOTION TO FILE BELATED BRIEF
AND APPELLEE’S MOTION TO DISMISS
APPEAL FOR FAILURE TO FILE BRIEF
MOOT.
PER CURIAM
On November 3, 2009, judgment was entered reflecting that appellant Debra J.
Rudrud had entered a plea of guilty to accomplice to forgery in the second degree and forgery
in the second degree. Her probation was also revoked on a charge of obtaining a controlled
substance by fraud. An aggregate term of 180 months’ imprisonment was imposed. The
judgment also reflected suspended imposition of sentence of an additional 156 months’
imprisonment.
On February 9, 2010, appellant filed in the trial court a pro se petition for reduction
of sentence pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated § 16-90-111 (Repl. 2006). The court
denied the petition, and appellant lodged an appeal in this court from the order. Appellant
Cite as 2010 Ark. 439
failed to file a brief in the appeal, prompting the appellee State to file a motion on October
1, 2010, to dismiss the appeal. On October 19, 2010, appellant filed a motion to file a belated
brief. Those motions are now before us.
We need not consider appellant’s motion to file a belated brief because it is clear from
the record that appellant’s petition for reduction of sentence was not timely filed and was thus
subject to dismissal. King v. State, 2010 Ark. 428 (per curiam). Accordingly, we dismiss the
appeal and hold appellant’s motion and the appellee’s motion to dismiss for failure to file a
brief moot.
This court will not permit an appeal from an order that denied a petition for
postconviction relief to go forward where it is clear that the appellant could not prevail.
Robertson v. State, 2010 Ark. 300, ___ S.W.3d ___ (per curiam); Redfeather v. State, 2010 Ark.
201 (per curiam); Mitchael v. State, 2009 Ark. 516 (per curiam) (citing Booth v. State, 353 Ark.
119, 110 S.W.3d 759 (2003) (per curiam)); Pardue v. State, 338 Ark. 606, 999 S.W.2d 198
(1999) (per curiam); Seaton v. State, 324 Ark. 236, 920 S.W.2d 13 (1996) (per curiam).
A trial court is without jurisdiction to modify, amend, or revise a valid sentence once
it has been put into execution. Green v. State, 2009 Ark. 113, 313 S.W.3d 521; Hodge v. State,
320 Ark. 31, 34, 894 S.W.2d 927, 929 (1995) (citing Gavin v. State, 354 Ark. 425, 125
S.W.3d 189 (2003)). A sentence is put into execution when the trial court enters a judgment
of conviction or a commitment order. Gates v. State, 353 Ark. 333, 336, 107 S.W.3d 868, 869
(2003). In appellant’s case, the judgment and commitment order was entered ninety-eight
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Cite as 2010 Ark. 439
days before the petition for reduction of sentence was filed.
Arkansas Code Annotated § 16-90-111 has been superseded to the extent that it
conflicts with the time limitations for postconviction relief pursuant to Arkansas Rule of
Criminal Procedure 37.1. Robertson, 2010 Ark. 300 , ___ S.W.3d ___; Redfeather, 2010 Ark.
201; DeLoach v. State, 2010 Ark. 79 (per curiam) (citing Womack v. State, 368 Ark. 341, 245
S.W.3d 154 (2006) (per curiam)). To the extent that appellant’s allegations could be construed
as alleging that her sentence was illegal or not legally imposed, in accordance with Rule
37.2(c), a claim that a sentence was illegal or imposed in an illegal manner must be raised in
a petition filed in the trial court within ninety days of the date that the judgment on a plea of
guilty was entered. See Reed v. State, 317 Ark. 286, 286 S.W.3d 376 (1994). The time limits
set out in Rule 37.2(c) are jurisdictional in nature, and the circuit court may not grant relief
on an untimely petition for postconviction relief. Maxwell v. State, 298 Ark. 329, 767 S.W.2d
303 (1989).
Appeal dismissed; appellant’s motion to file belated brief and appellee’s motion to
dismiss appeal for failure to file brief moot.
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