ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

OCTOBER 30, 2003

RANDY MITCHELL

Appellant

v.

STATE OF ARKANSAS

Appellee

CR 03-69

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF INDEPENDENCE COUNTY, CR 99-125, HONORABLE JOHN DAN KEMP JR., JUDGE

AFFIRMED

Per Curiam

Appellant entered pleas of guilty to attempt to manufacture methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The circuit court imposed concurrent sentences of imprisonment totaling seventeen years, and a five year suspended imposition of sentence on the drug charges. Over nine months after judgment was entered, appellant filed a petition to correct illegal sentence pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 16-90-111 (Supp. 1999). The circuit court denied and dismissed the petition, concluding that it was without jurisdiction to consider it because it was untimely filed. We affirm.

Appellant was procedurally barred from proceeding under Ark. Code Ann. § 16-90-111 (Supp. 1999) because his petition was untimely filed. Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37.2(b) has superseded Ark. Code Ann. § 16-90-111. E.g., Reed v. State, 317 Ark. 286, 878 S.W.2d 378 (1994). Rule 37 provides that all grounds for postconviction relief, including a claim that a sentenceis illegal or was illegally imposed, must be raised in a petition under the rule filed within ninety days of the date of entry of judgment if the conviction was obtained on a plea of guilty. Ark. R. Cr. P. 37.2 (2002).

Appellant did not file his petition until more than nine months after judgment was entered. The time limitations imposed in Rule 37 are jurisdictional in nature, and the circuit court may not grant relief on a untimely petition for postconviction relief. Shoemate v. State, 339 Ark. 403, 406, 5 S.W.3d 446, 447 (1999).

Affirmed.