ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

PER CURIAM

MAY 10, 2001

KARSTEN CANNON

Petitioner

v.

STATE OF ARKANSAS

Respondent

CACR 96-1018

PRO SE MOTION FOR PHOTOCOPY OF TRIAL TRANSCRIPT AT PUBLIC EXPENSE [CIRCUIT COURT OF CRITTENDEN COUNTY, NO. CR 96-895]

MOTION DENIED

In 1996, Karsten Cannon was found guilty of delivery of a controlled substance and sentenced to 240 months' imprisonment. The court of appeals affirmed. Cannon v. State, 58 Ark. App. 182, 947 S.W.2d 409 (1997). Cannon, who contends that he is indigent, now seeks at public expense a copy of the trial transcript lodged on appeal.1 As grounds for the request, petitioner Cannon asserts that he is actually innocent of the offense of which he was convicted, that his attorney on appeal was ineffective, that he is entitled to de novo review by this court of his direct appeal, that the judgment of conviction entered in his case does not reflect that a portion of the sentence was suspended, and that the evidence at trial was insufficient to sustain the judgment.

The motion for transcript is denied. 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 in itself 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 specific documentary evidence needed to support an allegation which could be raised in a timely petition for postconviction relief, there is no ground to grant the request for a copy of the transcript.

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, 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.

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).