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Sanders v. State
Citations: 1997 Ark. LEXIS 428; 329 Ark. 363; 952 S.W.2d 133Docket: CR 97-679
Court: Supreme Court of Arkansas; July 7, 1997; Arkansas; State Supreme Court
Raymond Sanders was convicted of capital felony murder in the death of Frederick LaSalle and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, with the judgment affirmed by the court in 1992. On December 4, 1992, Sanders' attorney, Tona M. DeMers, filed a Rule 37 petition challenging the judgment. Sanders submitted a pro se amended petition on October 1, 1996, but the trial court dismissed the Rule 37 petition as untimely on October 10, 1996. Sanders filed a pro se notice of appeal on November 8, 1996, but the record was not submitted to the court within the required ninety days. The court considered whether Sanders established good cause for the delay in lodging the record. It noted that had Sanders been proceeding pro se throughout the Rule 37 proceedings or if DeMers had been relieved as counsel, the court would have found a lack of diligence on his part. However, since DeMers had not been relieved, she was responsible for pursuing the appeal. The court referenced Rule 16 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure, which mandates that counsel continues representation until formally relieved. In light of attorney Jeff Rosenzweig's pro bono representation of Sanders, the court accepted his appearance as counsel, relieved DeMers, and granted the motion for a rule on clerk to allow the belated lodging of the record. A copy of the opinion will be forwarded to the Committee on Professional Conduct.