Lance Taylor v. the State of Texas

Opinion

NUMBER 13-18-00384-CR

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG

LANCE TAYLOR, Appellant,

v.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.

On appeal from the 28th District Court of Nueces County, Texas.

ORDER RESETTING SHOW CAUSE HEARING Before Chief Contreras and Justices Benavides and Tijerina Order Per Curiam

This cause is before the Court on appellant's motion to abate. On August 7, 2019,

December 19, 2019, December 3, 2020, and May 24, 2021, the Court abated the cause

and remanded to the trial court, each time due to appellant’s two previous court appointed

counselors’ failure to timely file a brief.

On December 21, 2021, we ordered several specific actions to take place: 1. Appellant’s counsel was ordered to review the entire clerk’s and reporter’s record and inform the trial court of any missing portions of the record at the ordered hearing;

2. The trial court was ordered to identify any missing portions of the record and cause them to be filed; and,

3. The trial court was ordered to file specific findings related to any missing, lost, or destroyed record.

After an abatement hearing, the trial court found portions of the record between

February 20, 2016, and February 16, 2018, were missing from the reporter’s record filed

on March 18, 2019. The trial court found no other portion of the record missing and

ordered the court reporter to prepare supplemental reporter’s records containing the

identified missing portions of the record. On March 14, 2022, the court reporter filed ten

additional volumes of records containing the pretrial hearings identified.

On April 5, 2022, we granted appellant’s ninth motion for extension of time to file

a brief and ordered the Honorable Diamond De Leon to again identify any final missing

portions of the record. The motion before us now identifies eight hearing settings missing

a reporter’s record. However, the motion fails to identify how counsel has specifically

requested these items from the court reporter, other than to indicate the trial court will not

schedule a hearing without additional orders from this Court. Again, the Court looks with

disfavor upon the delay caused by counsel’s failure to address the missing portions of the

record as directed in previous orders as well as counsel’s failure to provide proof of

requesting the supplemental record in accordance with the Texas Rules of Appellate

Procedure Rule 34.6 or otherwise attempting to obtain the missing portions of the record.

2 Accordingly, appellant's motion to abate is DENIED. IT IS THEREFORE

ORDERED that the Honorable Diamond De Leon, counsel for appellant, request

final missing portions of the record, if any, directly from the court reporter on or

before 12noon on Friday, May 27, 2022; the Honorable Diamond De Leon, counsel

for appellant, is further ORDERED to file proof of such request with the Clerk of

this Court and the trial court on or before 12noon on Friday, May 27, 2022; finally,

the Honorable Diamond De Leon is hereby ordered to file appellant’s brief with this

Court on or before 5:00 p.m. on June 6, 2022.

Accordingly, the show-cause hearing currently set for May 26, 2022, is now

reset, as follows: If the Honorable Diamond De Leon fails to file the appellate brief

with this Court on or before 5:00 p.m. on June 6, 2022, then the Honorable Diamond

De Leon is ORDERED to appear in person on June 7, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. in the

courtroom of the Thirteenth Court of Appeals, located at 901 Leopard Street, 10th

Floor in Corpus Christi, Texas, to show cause why he should not be held in

contempt of court.

PER CURIAM

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

Delivered and filed on the 24th day of May, 2022.