Paul Wayne Palmer v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: August 19, 2021
• Docket: 11-21-00172-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

Opinion filed August 19, 2021

In The

Eleventh Court of Appeals ___________

No. 11-21-00172-CR ___________

PAUL WAYNE PALMER, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the County Court at Law No. 2 Taylor County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 2-285-20

MEMORANDUM OPINION Appellant filed an untimely notice of appeal from a conviction for the offense of criminal trespass. We dismiss the appeal. The documents on file in this case indicate that Appellant’s sentence was imposed on June 18, 2021, and that his notice of appeal was filed in the district clerk’s office on August 9, 2021. When the appeal was filed in this court, we notified Appellant that the notice of appeal appeared to be untimely—as it was due to be filed on or before July 19, 2021. We also informed Appellant that the appeal may be dismissed for want of jurisdiction, and we requested that Appellant respond to our letter and show grounds to continue. In response to this court’s letter, Appellant’s counsel submitted a motion to dismiss the appeal. Because the motion was not signed by Appellant and was instead signed by counsel only, see TEX. R. APP. P. 42.2(a), this court filed the motion as a response to our letter. In the response, counsel agrees that the notice of appeal was not timely filed; counsel states that he was unaware of the relevant dates at the time that he was appointed to represent Appellant on appeal. Counsel indicates that he may pursue a writ relating to the inadvertent late filing of the notice of appeal. In that regard, counsel has requested that we dismiss this appeal and expedite the issuance of mandate. Pursuant to TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a), a notice of appeal is due to be filed either (1) within thirty days after the date that sentence is imposed in open court or (2) if the defendant timely files a motion for new trial, within ninety days after the date that sentence is imposed in open court. A notice of appeal must be in writing and filed with the clerk of the trial court. TEX. R. APP. P. 25.2(c)(1). The documents on file in this court reflect that Appellant did not file a motion for new trial and that his notice of appeal was not filed with the clerk of the trial court until fifty-two days after the sentence was imposed. The notice of appeal was therefore untimely. Absent a timely filed notice of appeal or the granting of a timely motion for extension of time, we do not have jurisdiction to entertain the appeal. Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998); Olivo v. State, 918 S.W.2d 519, 522–23 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996); Rodarte v. State, 860 S.W.2d 108, 110 (Tex. Crim. App. 1993).

2 Accordingly, this appeal is dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Pursuant to Appellant’s request, the mandate of this court shall be issued in an expedited manner. See TEX. R. APP. P. 18.1(c).

PER CURIAM

August 19, 2021 Do not publish. See TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b). Panel consists of: Bailey, C.J., Trotter, J., and Williams, J.