ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

PER CURIAM

MARCH 29, 2001

SHAWN RAINER

Petitioner

v.

STATE OF ARKANSAS

Respondent

CACR 99-635

PRO SE MOTION FOR PHOTOCOPY OF TRIAL TRANSCRIPT AND OTHER MATERIAL AT PUBLIC EXPENSE (CIRCUIT COURT OF MISSISSIPPI COUNTY, CHICKASAWBA DISTRICT, NO. CR 92-106, CR 98-205)

MOTION DENIED

In 1998, Shawn Rainer was found guilty of murder in the second degree and sentenced to 240 months' imprisonment. The trial court in the same proceeding revoked a prior suspended sentence. The court of appeals affirmed the judgment of conviction but reversed and dismissed the revocation order. Ranier v. State, CACR 99-635 (March 15, 2000).

Ranier, who contends that he is indigent, now seeks at public expense a copy of the trial transcript and other material filed on appeal.1 Petitioner invokes the Freedom of Information Act and offers no grounds for the request.

The motion is denied. The Freedom of Information Act, codified as Ark. Code Ann. § 25-19-101 et seq, does not require an appellate court to provide photocopying at public expense. See 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 free photocopying. Washington v. State, 270 Ark. 840, 606 S.W.2d 365 (1980). As the petitioner here has cited no reason for requiring the requested material, the motion is denied. It should be noted that when an appeal has been lodged in either this court or the court of appeals, the appeal transcript and other material filed on appeal remain permanently on file with the clerk. Persons may review a transcript or other material in the clerk's office and photocopy all or portions of it. An incarcerated person desiring a photocopy of a transcript or other material on file 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, 324, Ark. 453, 921 S.W. 2d 606 (1996).

Motion denied.

1 For clerical purposes, the motion has been filed under the docket number assigned to the direct appeal of the judgment which was lodged in the court of appeals. This court decides motions for transcript because such motions are considered to be requests for postconviction relief. See Williams v. State, 273 Ark. 315, 619 S.W.2d 628 (1981).