Pruitt v. State, 2014 Ark. 258

Ralph Pruitt was convicted in 2012 of sexual indecency with a minor and two counts of rape and received an aggregate 480-month sentence.
The Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction; the appellate mandate issued April 16, 2013.
Pruitt filed a pro se Rule 37.1 postconviction petition on May 23, 2013 that was denied for nonconformity with Rule 37.1(b) (record of that petition/order not included in the motion).
Sixty-four days after the mandate (June 19, 2013), Pruitt filed a second pro se Rule 37.1 petition; the trial court denied it as untimely.
Pruitt sought leave to pursue a belated appeal of the June 19 order and appointment of counsel.
The Supreme Court denied the motions, concluding the June 19 petition was untimely and the court (and thus the appellate court) lacked jurisdiction to grant relief.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Timeliness of Rule 37.1 petition	Pruitt sought to proceed from June 19, 2013 petition despite filing 64 days after mandate	June 19 petition exceeded the 60-day Rule 37.2(c) deadline, so untimely	Court held petition untimely; trial court lacked jurisdiction to grant relief
Successive petitions / waiver of grounds	Pruitt implicitly contended he should be allowed to proceed despite prior denial of May 23 petition	Rule 37.2(b) bars raising grounds in a later petition unless first was denied without prejudice or leave to amend	Court noted May 23 petition was denied for nonconformity and there was no record of leave to amend; successive petition barred
Belated appeal / merits review	Pruitt requested leave for belated appeal and counsel	State argued dismissal appropriate and appellant could not prevail on appeal	Court found it need not reach merits because appellant could not succeed given jurisdictional/timeliness defects; denied motions

None with official reporter citations were cited in the opinion (opinion relied on Arkansas slip opinions and appellate mandate).