ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

PER CURIAM

MARCH 1, 2001

ROBERT EARL TUCKER

Petitioner

v.

STATE OF ARKANSAS

Respondent

CR 00-1169

PRO SE MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE BRIEF [CIRCUIT COURT OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NO. CR 97-627-2-3, HON. FRED D. DAVIS, JUDGE]

MOTION MOOT; APPEAL DISMISSED

Robert Earl Tucker, an inmate of the Arkansas Department of Correction, was found guilty of capital murder in the stabbing death of another inmate and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. We affirmed. Tucker v. State, 336 Ark. 956, 983 S.W.2d 956 (1999). This court's mandate was issued on February 17, 1998. Approximately seventeen months later on July 8, 1999, Tucker filed in the trial court a petition for postconviction relief pursuant to Criminal Procedure Rule 37. The petition was denied, and Tucker has lodged an appeal of the order in this court.

Now before us is appellant Tucker's motion for extension of time to file the appellant's brief. We declare the motion moot and dismiss the appeal because the Rule 37 petition filed in the trial court was untimely, and thus appellant was procedurally barred from proceeding under

the rule. This court has consistently held that 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. Seaton v. State, 324 Ark. 236, 920 S.W.2d 13 (1996); Harris v. State, 318 Ark. 599, 887 S.W.2d 514 (1994); Reed v. State, 317 Ark. 286, 878 S.W.2d 376 (1994); see Chambers v. State, 304 Ark. 663, 803 S.W.2d 932 (1991); Johnson v. State, 303 Ark. 560, 798 S.W.2d 108 (1990); Williams v. State, 293 Ark. 73, 732 S.W.2d 456 (1987).

Criminal Procedure Rule 37.2(c) provides in pertinent part that a petition under the rule is untimely if not filed within sixty days of the date the mandate was issued upon affirmance of the judgment. As stated, appellant did not file his petition under the rule until nearly seventeen months after the mandate was issued. Time limitations imposed in Criminal Procedure Rule 37 are jurisdictional in nature, and a circuit court cannot grant relief on an untimely petition. Benton v. State, 325 Ark. 246, 925 S.W.2d 401 (1996); Hamilton v. State, 323 Ark. 614, 918 S.W.2d 113 (1996); Harris v. State, 318 Ark. 599, 887 S.W.2d 514 (1994); Maxwell v. State, 298 Ark. 329, 767 S.W.2d 303 (1989).

Motion moot; appeal dismissed.