Johnathan Renard Castaneda v. State

Opinion

ACCEPTED 01-14-00389-CR FIRST COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS 2/27/2015 3:40:22 PM CHRISTOPHER PRINE CLERK

No. 01-14-00389-CR No. 01-14-00390-CR In the FILED IN 1st COURT OF APPEALS Court of Appeals HOUSTON, TEXAS For the 2/27/2015 3:40:22 PM 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 charged in

cause number 1350815 with the murder of Baron Armstrong committed

on June 8, 2012 (CR5 – 12). He pled “not guilty” to the charges, and the

cases were tried to a jury (CR1 – 81) (CR5 – 73). On April 24, 2014, the

jury found the appellant guilty of both offenses and sentenced him to life in prison for the sexual assault; the trial court also sentenced him to 45

years in prison for the murder (CR1 – 81) (CR5 – 73). The appellant

filed notice of appeal the same day, and the trial court certified that he

had the right to appeal (CR1 – 77) (CR5 – 85).

2. The State’s brief is due on February 27, 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 90 megabytes in length split over ten volumes and will take a large amount of time to process.

b. The undersigned attorney is responsible for screening every bill filed in the Texas Legislature to determine its possible impact on the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, and this task has consumed a large amount of time since pre-filing started in the Texas Legislature in November 2014.

c. The undersigned attorney researched and answered by email more than 40 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.

d. The undersigned attorney is responsible for supervising six other appellate prosecutors, and has spent a substantial amount of time reviewing the briefs of those prosecutors, attending their oral arguments, and assisting in the preparation of both during that time period. The undersigned attorney has also been responsible for training two new appellate prosecutors, which requires more intense supervision and editing, and therefore, more of a time commitment. e. 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

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 TBC No. 796910 Date: February 27, 2015