ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

PER CURIAM

JULY 9, 2001

ARTHUR C. LEWIS

a/k/a Author C. Lewis

Petitioner

v.

STATE OF ARKANSAS

Respondent

CR 99-657

PRO SE MOTION FOR PHOTOCOPY OF RECORD AT PUBLIC EXPENSE [CIRCUIT COURT OF MISSISSIPPI COUNTY, BLYTHEVILLE DISTRICT,. CR 98-141]

MOTION DENIED

On October 5, 1998, judgment was entered reflecting that Arthur Lewis had pleaded guilty to murder in the first degree. A sentence of 480 months' imprisonment was imposed. Lewis subsequently filed in the trial court a petition for postconviction relief pursuant to Criminal Procedure Rule 37 challenging the judgment. The petition was denied, and this court affirmed the order. Lewis v. State, CR 99-657 (Ark. June 8, 2000).

Now before us is Lewis's pro se "motion for certified records." In the motion he states that he was denied a transcript by the circuit court and that this denial gave the circuit court grounds to deny his Rule 37 petition. He further asserts that this court erred in affirming the order of the circuit court. Petitioner Lewis has attached to the motion a copy of an order of the circuit court entered May 14, 2001, in which the court declares that it has reviewed pleadings filed by petitioner and the circuit court no longer has jurisdiction over "this matter."

The motion is denied. If petitioner filed the instant motion here as a means of seeking review of the circuit court's May 14, 2001,order, such a motion is not a substitute for an appeal of the order.

If the motion is considered a request for a copy of the record lodged here from the order that denied Rule 37 relief, which is the only record on file with this court that pertains to Lewis's case, 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); Brooks v. State, 303 Ark. 188 S.W.2d 792 (1990); 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 Lewis has already proceeded under Rule 37 and is not eligible to file a second petition. Rule 37.2(b). If there is some other postconviction proceeding in either a State or federal court that he desires to pursue, he has not established that a copy of the record on file with this court is necessary to that proceeding.

It should be noted that when an appeal has been lodged in this court, 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 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.