Nolan Charles Hawthorne v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: April 29, 2025
• Docket: 01-24-00887-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

Opinion issued April 29, 2025

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-24-00887-CR ——————————— NOLAN CHARLES HAWTHORNE, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 405th District Court Galveston County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 23-CR-0695

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant Nolan Charles Hawthorne pleaded guilty to the second-degree

felony offense of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced by a

jury to 20 years’ incarceration in the Correctional Institutions Division of Texas

Department of Criminal Justice. On February 25, 2025, appellant’s counsel filed a motion to abate, stating that appellant had indicated a desire to waive his right of

appeal and that counsel had forwarded a motion to dismiss to appellant for his

signature, but no response was received. Therefore, counsel asked for this Court to

abate for a hearing in the trial court to determine whether appellant wished to

proceed with his appeal.

The Court granted the motion and issued an order on March 4, 2025, abating

the appeal and remanding to the trial court for a hearing to determine if appellant

wished to proceed with his appeal. On March 25, 2025, a supplemental reporter’s

record of the hearing was filed and on April 11, 2025, a supplemental clerk’s record

was filed. The supplemental reporter’s record contains appellant’s testimony that he

does not wish to proceed with his appeal and indicates he understands the

consequences of dismissing his appeal. The supplemental clerk’s record contains

the trial court’s findings that appellant was placed under oath, was questioned by his

appointed counsel, and clearly expressed his desire not to pursue the appeal.

Rule 42(a) requires a motion signed by the appellant and his counsel to

dismiss a criminal appeal voluntarily. See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.1(a). However, based

on appellant’s statement under oath and on the record that he does not wish to pursue

his appeal and the trial court’s findings of fact that appellant clearly expressed a

desire not to proceed with his appeal, we reinstate the appeal and conclude that good

cause exists to suspend the operation of Rule 42.2(a). See Truong v. State, No. 01-

2 17-003430CR, 2018 WL 1630177, at *1 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Apr. 5,

2018, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication). We have not yet issued a

decision in this appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.2(b).

Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 43.2(f). We dismiss

any pending motions as moot.

PER CURIAM Panel consists of Chief Justice Adams and Justices Gunn and Guiney.

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