Alfredo Sanchez v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: April 10, 2008
• Docket: 13-07-00496-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

NUMBER 13-07-00496-CR

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG ______________________________________________________________

ALFREDO SANCHEZ, Appellant,

v.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee. _____________________________________________________________

On appeal from the 214th District Court of Nueces County, Texas. ______________________________________________________________

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Justices Yañez, Garza, and Benavides Memorandum Opinion Per Curiam

Appellant, Alfredo Sanchez, attempted to perfect an appeal from a conviction for

sexual assault. We dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.

This Court's appellate jurisdiction in a criminal case is invoked by a timely filed

notice of appeal. Olivo v. State, 918 S.W.2d 519, 522 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996). Absent a

timely filed notice of appeal, a court of appeals does not have jurisdiction to address the merits of the appeal and can take no action other than to dismiss the appeal for want of

jurisdiction. Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998).

The trial court imposed sentence in this matter on May 15, 2007. The notice of

appeal was due on June 14, 2007. The record contains a pro se notice of appeal dated

May 30, 2007, marked “received” by persons unknown on June 1, 2007, and file-marked

by the district clerk on July 2, 2007.

This Court abated and remanded this matter to the trial court for a determination

regarding the timeliness of appellant’s notice of appeal. After remand, the trial court

allowed appellant’s former appointed counsel to withdraw and appointed new counsel for

appellant for purposes of this appeal. This Court has now received a response filed by

appellant’s new counsel regarding the timeliness of appellant’s notice of appeal. Counsel

has stated that the appeal was not timely filed and that this defect cannot be cured.

Appellant’s notice of appeal was untimely, and accordingly, we lack jurisdiction over

the appeal. See Slaton, 981 S.W.2d at 210. Appellant may be entitled to an out-of-time

appeal by filing a post-conviction writ of habeas corpus returnable to the Texas Court of

Criminal Appeals; however, the availability of that remedy is beyond the jurisdiction of this

Court. See TEX . CODE CRIM . PROC . ANN . art. 11.07, § 3(a) (Vernon 2005); see also Ex

parte Garcia, 988 S.W.2d 240 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999).

The appeal is DISMISSED FOR WANT OF JURISDICTION.

PER CURIAM

Do not publish. See TEX . R. APP. P. 47.2(b).

Memorandum Opinion delivered and filed this the 10th day of April, 2008.