
    Gary Oble MERRELL, Petitioner, v. Harry SINGLETARY, Secretary of the Florida Dept. of Corrections, Respondent.
    No. 98-3321.
    District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
    June 16, 1999.
    Gary 0. Merrell, in proper person.
    Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Simone P. Firley, Assistant Attorney General, for respondent.
    Before COPE, LEVY, and SORONDO, JJ.
   PER CURIAM.

Gary Oble Merrell petitions for a belated appeal. He alleged that after an evidentiary hearing on a motion for post-conviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850, he requested, and his privately-retained trial counsel agreed, to take an appeal. No appeal was ever filed.

We appointed a commissioner who conducted an evidentiary hearing at which defendant-appellant Merrell and his trial counsel both testified. The trial court found that trial counsel “was not retained to pursue an appeal of the court’s denial of a motion for post-conviction relief and therefore did not file such an appeal.” That being so, the petition for belated appeal is denied. See Steele v. Kehoe, 24 Fla. L. Weekly S237, S238-39, — So.2d -, -, 1999 WL 343071 (Fla. May 27, 1999).

Petition denied.  