Arthur Torrez v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: January 4, 2023
• Docket: 07-22-00284-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The Court of Appeals Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo

No. 07-22-00284-CR

ARTHUR TORREZ, APPELLANT

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE

On Appeal from the 364th District Court Lubbock County, Texas Trial Court No. DC-2022-CR-1436, Honorable William R. Eichman II, Presiding

January 4, 2022 MEMORANDUM OPINION Before QUINN, C.J., and DOSS and YARBROUGH, JJ.

Appellant, Arthur Torrez, appeals his conviction for aggravated assault 1 and

sentence to thirty years’ confinement. We dismiss the untimely appeal for want of

jurisdiction.

The trial court sentenced appellant on August 10, 2022. That resulted in appellant

filing a notice of appeal on October 18, 2022. Normally, such a notice must be filed within

1 See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.02(b)(1). thirty days of sentencing or ninety days of moving for a new trial. See TEX. R. APP. P.

26.2(a) (specifying the deadlines by which to file the requisite notice). Appellant moved

for new trial here but did so three days after the deadline specified in Rule 21.4(a) of the

Rules of Appellate Procedure. See TEX. R. APP. P. 21.4(a) (stating that a defendant may

file a motion for new trial before, but no later than thirty days after, the date on which the

trial court imposes or suspends sentence in open court). His motion for new trial being

untimely, it failed to extend the usual thirty-day deadline by which to perfect an appeal.

That means the October 18th notice also was untimely.

A timely notice of appeal is a jurisdictional prerequisite. Castillo v. State, 369

S.W.3d 196, 198 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012). If untimely, we have no option but to dismiss

the appeal for want of jurisdiction. Id. By letter dated December 1, 2022, we notified

appellant of the circumstances involved at bar and directed him to show how we have

jurisdiction over his appeal. His response was due December 12, 2022. That date

lapsed, and no response has been received to date. Given this and the belated notice of

appeal, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. 2

Per Curiam

Do not publish.

2 Appellant may be entitled to relief by filing an application for writ of habeas corpus returnable to the Court of Criminal Appeals for consideration of an out-of-time appeal. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 11.07.