ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

PER CURIAM

FEBRUARY 22, 2001

GERMAN WOODSON WILLIAMS

Petitioner

v.

STATE OF ARKANSAS

Respondent

CR 94-1059

PRO SE MOTION FOR PHOTOCOPIES AT PUBLIC EXPENSE

MOTION DENIED

German Woodson Williams pleaded guilty in 1994 to murder in the first degree and was sentenced as a habitual offender to sixty-eight years and three month's imprisonment. He subsequently filed a petition to correct the sentence in the trial court that was denied. He appealed to this court and the appeal was ultimately dismissed. Williams v. State, CR 94-1059 (March 20, 1995).

Williams now asks by pro se motion to be provided at public expense pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act with a copy of a variety of written material pertaining to his criminal case, most of which is not on file with this court. The only material filed here pertains to the postconviction appeal which consists of the record lodged on appeal and two motions. Petitioner Williams offers no ground for the request to receive the material at public expense.

The Freedom of Information Act, codified as Ark. Code Ann. § 25-19-101 et seq, does notrequire an appellate court to provide photocopying at public expense. Partin v. State, CR 93-682 (June 30, 1997), citing Moore v. State, 324 Ark. 453, 921 S.W.2d 606 (1996). A petitioner is not entitled to a free copy of material on file with this court unless he demonstrates some compelling need for specific documentary evidence to support an allegation contained in a petition for postconviction relief. See Austin v. State, 287 Ark. 256, 697 S.W.2d 914 (1985). Indigency alone does not entitle a petitioner to a transcript at public expense. Washington v. State, 270 Ark. 840, 606 S.W.2d 365 (1980). Petitioner has not made a showing of compelling need for a photocopy at public expense of the material on file here.

It should be noted that when an appeal has been lodged in this court, the appeal record and other material pertaining to the appeal remain permanently on file with the clerk. Persons may review a record or other material in the clerk's office and photocopy all or portions of it. An incarcerated person desiring a photocopy of a record or other material on file here may write this court, remit the photocopying fee, and request that the copy be mailed to the prison. All persons, including prisoners, must bear the cost of photocopying. Moore v. State, supra.

Motion denied.