Landon Paul Whitten v. the State of Texas
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Opinion
In the Court of Appeals Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana
No. 06-24-00080-CR
LANDON PAUL WHITTEN, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 71st District Court Harrison County, Texas Trial Court No. 23-0167X
Before Stevens, C.J., van Cleef and Rambin, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice van Cleef MEMORANDUM OPINION
Landon Paul Whitten filed an untimely notice of appeal from his conviction for
possessing a controlled substance and the resulting sentence of twenty months’ confinement in
state jail.1 We dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.
The judgment of conviction in this matter indicates that Whitten’s sentence was imposed
on March 13, 2024, and Whitten did not file a motion for new trial. As a result, Whitten’s notice
of appeal was due thirty days from the date sentence was imposed, or on or before April 12,
2024. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a)(1). Whitten’s notice of appeal was filed on April 18, 2024,
which is beyond the April 12 deadline. The notice of appeal, therefore, was untimely.
We notified Whitten by letter that his notice of appeal appeared to be untimely and that
the appeal was subject to dismissal for want of jurisdiction. We gave Whitten ten days to
respond to our letter and demonstrate how we had jurisdiction over the appeal notwithstanding
the noted defect. Whitten responded by filing a motion to extend the deadline for filing his
notice of appeal.
Rule 26.3 of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure establishes the procedure for
obtaining an extension of time in which to file a notice of appeal. Under Rule 26.3, an appellate
court has the discretion to grant an extension of time in a criminal matter if, and only if, within
fifteen days after the deadline for filing the notice of appeal, the appellant (1) files the notice of
appeal in the trial court and (2) files a motion seeking an extension of time in the appellate court.
TEX. R. APP. P. 26.3. While Whitten satisfied the first requirement, he failed to satisfy the
1 See TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. § 481.115(b) (Supp.). 2 second. Whitten did file a motion in this Court seeking an extension of the deadline for filing his
notice of appeal, but he did not do so within fifteen days after the deadline for filing such notice.
As previously stated, the deadline for filing the notice of appeal was April 12, 2024, making
April 29, 2024, the deadline for filing a motion for an extension of time under Rule 26.3.
Whitten’s motion was filed in this Court on May 2, 2024, making it untimely. The Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals has expressly held that the failure to timely file a motion for extension of
time under such circumstances deprives this Court of jurisdiction. See Olivo v. State, 918
S.W.2d 519, 522–23 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996); see also Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 209 n.3
(Tex. Crim. App. 1998) (per curiam).
Because Whitten has not timely perfected his appeal, we dismiss the appeal for want of
jurisdiction.
Charles van Cleef Justice
Date Submitted: May 15, 2024 Date Decided: May 16, 2024
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