ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

February 19, 2004

EUGENE MORRIS

Petitioner

v.

STATE OF ARKANSAS

Respondent

CR 03-1473

PRO SE MOTION AND AMENDED MOTION FOR BELATED APPEAL OF ORDER [CIRCUIT COURT OF PULASKI COUNTY, NO. CR 97-571, HON. JOHN LANGSTON, JUDGE]

MOTION AND AMENDED MOTION DENIED

Per Curiam

In 1998, Eugene Morris pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver for which an aggregate term of twenty-five years' imprisonment was imposed. Morris subsequently filed in the trial court a timely petition for postconviction relief pursuant to Criminal Procedure Rule 37.1. The petition was denied after a hearing. We affirmed. Morris v. State, CR 585 (Ark. November 15, 2001) (per curiam).

On August 3, 2002, Morris filed another Rule 37.1 petition in the trial court. The petition was denied on December 5, 2002. No appeal was taken, and in the instant motion and amended motion Morris seeks leave to proceed with a belated appeal of the order pursuant to Rule 2(a)(4) of the Rules of Appellate Procedure--Criminal.

We need not consider petitioner's grounds for his failure to perfect an appeal inasmuch as it is clear that he could not prevail in an appeal of the order. Rule 37.2(b) provides that all grounds for relief must be raised in the original petition filed under the rule. A petitioner is not entitled to file a second petition under the rule, unless the original petition was specifically denied without prejudice to filing a subsequent petition. Williams v. State, 273 Ark. 315, 619 S.W.2d 628 (1981). When petitioner's original petition was denied, it was denied with prejudice; thus, petitioner was procedurally barred from proceeding again under the rule.

Motion and amended motion denied.