Johnathan Renard Castaneda v. State

Opinion

ACCEPTED 01-14-00389-CR FIRST COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS 3/30/2015 11:30:14 AM CHRISTOPHER PRINE CLERK

No. 01-14-00389-CR No. 01-14-00389-CR In the FILED IN 1st COURT OF APPEALS Court of Appeals HOUSTON, TEXAS For the 3/30/2015 11:30:14 AM First District of Texas CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE At Houston Clerk

 Nos. 1350501 and 1350815 In the 263rd District Court Of Harris County, Texas  JOHNATHAN RENARD CASTANEDA Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS Appellee  STATE’S MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE BRIEF  TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS:

THE STATE OF TEXAS, pursuant to TEX. R. APP. P. 2 & 10.5, moves for

an extension of time in which to file its appellate brief and in its motion, would

show the Court the following:

1. The appellant was charged in cause number 1350501 with aggravated

sexual assault committed on June 8, 2012 (CR1 – 12). He was also

charged in cause number 1350815 with the murder of Baron Armstrong

committed on that same day (CR5 – 13). He pled “not guilty” to the

charges, and the cases were tried to a jury (CR1 – 73) (CR5 – 81). The

jury found the appellant guilty of both offenses, and the trial court thereafter assessed punishment on April 24, 2014 as follows: forty-five

years in prison for the murder, and life in prison for the aggravated sexual

assault (CR1 – 73) (CR5 – 81). The appellant filed notice of appeal that

same day, and the trial court certified that he had the right to appeal (CR1

– 77, 79) (CR5 – 85, 87).

2. The State’s brief is due on March 30, 2015. The State hereby requests a

30-day extension for the filing of the State’s brief.

3. The following facts are relied upon to show good cause for an extension

of time to allow the State to file its brief:

a. The record in this case is over one megabyte in length split over ten volumes and will take some time to process.

b. The undersigned attorney researched and answered by email more than 50 legal questions of trial prosecutors since the appellant filed his brief. The undersigned attorney researched and answered even more such questions by phone during that time period.

c. The undersigned attorney has been involved in completing the following written appellate project since the appellant filed his brief:

(1) Jennifer Waite v. The State of Texas No. 14-13-00588-CR Brief filed February 3, 2015

(2) Terry Cox Ferguson v. The State of Texas No. 01-14-00247-CR Brief filed February 12, 2015 (3) Kevin Kent v. The State of Texas No. 14-13-00375-CR Brief on PDR filed March 3, 2015

(4) Kelvin O’Brien v. The State of Texas No. 01-14-00229-CR Brief filed March 30, 2015

WHEREFORE, the State prays that this Court will grant the requested extension.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Eric Kugler ERIC KUGLER Assistant District Attorney Harris County, Texas 1201 Franklin, Suite 600 Houston, Texas 77002-1923 (713) 755-5826 Kugler_eric@dao.hctx.net TBC No. 796910

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE This is to certify that a copy of the foregoing instrument will be served by efile.txcourts.gov to:

Jani Wood Assistant Public Defender Harris County, Texas 1201 Franklin, 13th Floor Houston, Texas 77002 Jani.Maselli@pdo.hctx.net /s/ Eric Kugler ERIC KUGLER Assistant District Attorney Harris County, Texas 1201 Franklin, Suite 600 Houston, Texas 77002-1923 (713) 755-5826 Date: March 30, 2015