ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

SAM BIRD, JUDGE

DIVISION III

CAROL CROCKETT,

APPELLANT

V.

STATE OF ARKANSAS,

APPELLEE

CACR00-1455

SEPTEMBER 19, 2001

APPEAL FROM THE PULASKI COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT,

NO. CR00-1404,

HON. MARION HUMPHREY,

JUDGE

DISMISSED

On October 14, 1999, Carol Crockett received a traffic ticket in Cammack Village for failing to stop at a stop sign, having a broken windshield, and failing to have a driver's license in her possession. The city court in Cammack Village, on March 20, 2000, found Crockett guilty on the failing-to-stop charge and dismissed the other charges. The appeal transcript, consisting of a record of the proceedings, was signed on April 18, 2000, by the city court clerk, but it was not filed with the clerk of the circuit court until April 24, 2000. Rule 9 of the Inferior Court Rules requires that the filing of appeals from inferior courts to circuit court must be filed in the circuit clerk's office within thirty days from the date of entry of the judgment. Rule 9 applies to criminal cases as well as civil cases in regards to the filing of appeals to circuit court. Murray v. State, 344 Ark. 7, 37 S.W.3d 641 (2001); Bocksnick v. City of London, 308 Ark. 599, 825 S.W.2d 267 (1992); Laxton v. State,49 Ark. App. 148, 899 S.W.2d 479 (1995). Rule 9(b) states that "[a]n appeal from an inferior court to the circuit court shall be taken by filing a record of the proceedings had in the inferior court" and that "[t]he appellant shall have the responsibility of filing such record in the office of the circuit clerk."

Ms. Crockett did not file the appeal transcript with the circuit clerk until April 24, 2000, which was outside the thirty-day period that began with the entry of the city court's judgment on March 20, 2000. Because the appeal transcript was filed more than thirty days after the city court entered judgment, her appeal to the circuit court was untimely.

The thirty-day requirement is mandatory and jurisdictional. Murray, supra. "[W]hether the question is raised by the parties or not, it is not only the power, but the duty, of a court to determine whether it has jurisdiction of the subject matter." Giacona v. State, 39 Ark. App. 101, 839 S.W.2d 228 (1992). Because Ms. Crockett did not timely file the appeal transcript in circuit court, the city court judgment became final and the circuit court never gained jurisdiction of the appeal. Laxton, supra. Therefore, there is nothing before us to review and we must dismiss the appeal.

Appeal dismissed.

Robbins and Vaught, JJ. agree.