Smith v. State

Ruffin, Judge.

In January 2001, Thomas J. Smith filed a motion for an out-of-time appeal. The trial court denied the motion, and this appeal ensued. For reasons that follow, we reverse the trial court’s ruling and remand for further consideration.

It is well settled that “[a] defendant may be entitled to an out-of-time appeal if he was deprived of his right to appeal by his attorney’s negligence or ignorance, or if he was not adequately informed of his appeal rights.”1 Nevertheless, a defendant may,

by his own conduct or in concert with his counsel, forfeit his right to appeal by sleeping on his…