Fernando Chavarria v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: April 26, 2023
• Docket: 09-23-00093-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

__________________

NO. 09-23-00093-CR __________________

FERNANDO CHAVARRIA, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

__________________________________________________________________

On Appeal from the 252nd District Court Jefferson County, Texas Trial Cause No. F18-30866 __________________________________________________________________

MEMORANDUM OPINION

The trial court sentenced Fernando Chavarria on September 19, 2022.

Chavarria did not file a motion for new trial. Notice of appeal was due to be filed on

or before October 19, 2022. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1). His time for filing a

motion for extension of time to perfect his appeal expired on November 3, 2022. See

Tex. R. App. P. 26.3. Chavarria filed a notice of appeal on March 24, 2023, more

than 30 days after the date the trial court imposed the sentence. On that same date

Chavarria filed a motion for leave to file notice of appeal. On March 30, 2023, the

1 Clerk of the Court notified the parties that the notice of appeal had been filed outside

the time for which an extension of time may be granted for filing a notice of appeal,

and warned the parties that the appeal would be dismissed unless grounds were

shown for continuing the appeal by April 14, 2023. Neither party responded.

When a defendant appeals from a conviction in a criminal case, the time to

file a notice of appeal runs from the date sentence is imposed or suspended in open

court. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a). An appellate court may extend the time to file the

notice of appeal if, within 15 days after the deadline for filing the notice of appeal,

the defendant files a notice of appeal in the trial court and files a motion for extension

of time in the appellate court. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.3. Chavarria failed to file a

notice of appeal and a motion for an extension of time within the time permitted by

the rule. See id.

“Timely filing of a written notice of appeal is a jurisdictional prerequisite to

hearing an appeal.” Castillo v. State, 369 S.W.3d 196, 198 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012).

“If a notice of appeal is not timely filed, the court of appeals has no option but to

dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.” Id. We deny the motion for leave to file

notice of appeal as untimely filed and we dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

See Tex. R. App. P. 43.2(f).

2 APPEAL DISMISSED.

PER CURIAM

Submitted on April 25, 2023 Opinion Delivered April 26, 2023 Do Not Publish

Before Horton, Johnson and Wright, JJ.