ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

PER CURIAM

April 19, 2001

TERRY GLEN LUNSFORD

Petitioner

v.

STATE OF ARKANSAS

Respondent

CACR 98-1273

PRO SE MOTION FOR COPY OF TRANSCRIPT [CIRCUIT COURT OF PULASKI COUNTY, NO. CR 97-97]

MOTION DENIED

Terry Glen Lunsford was found guilty by a jury of murder in the second degree and sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. A fine of $15,000 was also imposed. The court of appeals affirmed. Lunsford v. State, CACR 98-1273 (June 9, 1999).

Petitioner Lunsford, who contends that he is indigent, now seeks at public expense a copy of the trial transcript.1 As grounds for the request, petitioner asserts that his attorney made numerous cumulative errors at trial and that he is entitled by due process of law to a copy of the transcript.

The motion for transcript is denied. A petitioner is not entitled to photocopying at public

expense unless he or she demonstrates some compelling need for specific documentary evidence to support an allegation contained in a petition for postconviction relief. Moore v. State, 324 Ark. 453, 921 S.W.2d 606 (1996); See Austin v. State, 287 Ark. 256, 697 S.W.2d 914 (1985). Indigency alone does not entitle a petitioner to photocopying at public expense. Washington v. State, 270 Ark. 840, 606 S.W.2d 365 (1980). Petitioner has offered no factual substantiation for his claims and thus has not demonstrated that there is a compelling need for specific documentary evidence to support an allegation in a petition for postconviction relief; nor has he alleged that there is a particular postconviction remedy available to him at this time. As a result, he has failed to show that the transcript lodged on appeal should be provided to him at no cost.

It should be noted that when an appeal has been lodged in either this court or the court of appeals, the appeal transcript remains permanently on file with the clerk. Persons may review a transcript in the clerk's office and photocopy all or portions of it. An incarcerated person desiring a photocopy of a transcript on file may write this court 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.

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).