Pridgen, Robert Lynn

• Court: Texas Supreme Court
• Decided: February 18, 2015
• Docket: PD-0186-15
• Status: Published

Opinion

PD-0186-15 PD-0186-15 COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS Transmitted 2/17/2015 12:38:19 PM Accepted 2/18/2015 10:07:24 AM ABEL ACOSTA No. ____________________ CLERK

ROBERT LYNN PRIDGEN, § IN THE COURT OF § Petitioner, § § CRIMINAL APPEALS vs. § § THE STATE OF TEXAS § AUSTIN, TEXAS __________________________________________________________________

PETITIONER’S MOTION FOR EXTENTION OF TIME TO FILE PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW __________________________________________________________________

To the Honorable Court of Criminal Appeals: Robert L. Pridgen, Petitioner, respectfully asks the Court to extend the March 2, 2015, deadline for his petition for discretionary review (PDR) to April 6, 2015, pursuant to Rule 68.2(c).

THE PARTIES AND THEIR COUNSEL

The following is a list of all parties to the trial court’s judgment and the names and addresses of all trial and appellate counsel:

Appellant Appellant’s Appellate Counsel Mr. Robert Lynn Pridgen Mr. James W. Volberding First Place 100 E. Ferguson Street Suite 500 Tyler, TX 75702 (903) 597-6622 February 18, 2015

Appellant’s Trial Counsel Mr. Jeff Haas 100 E. Ferguson, Suite 908 Pridgen v. State Pridgen’s Motion for Extension Page 1 of 5 Tyler, TX 75702

State of Texas State’s Appellate Counsel Ms. Allyson Mitchell (DA formerly Mr. Douglas Lowe) Anderson County District Attorney 500 N. Church Street, Room 38 Palestine, TX 75801

State’s Trial Counsel Mr. Stanley Sokolowski Mr. Scott Holden Anderson Co. Asst. District Attorneys

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Court of Appeals Robert L. Pridgen v. State, No. 12-13-00136- CR, In the Twelfth Court of Appeals, Tyler.

Nature of the case Prosecution for murder, under Texas Penal Code section 19.02, and the lesser-included offense of manslaughter, under section 19.04.

District court Hon. Deborah Oakes Evans, 369th District Court, Anderson County, case number 29956.

Course and disposition Mr. Pridgen pled not guilty. RR11:8-9. of proceedings After the court denied his motion for directed verdict, a jury convicted Pridgen of murder, RR15:65; CR166, and sentenced him to 20 years incarceration, RR15:128; CR163, 164. The court denied Pridgen’s

Pridgen v. State Pridgen’s Motion for Extension Page 2 of 5 motion for new trial by operation of law. RR13:137; CR170, 174 (presented).

Properly certified, CR157, Pridgen timely appealed. CR177.

The Tyler Court of Appeals affirmed Pridgen’s conviction and sentence December 3, 2014, and denied Pridgen’s January 20, 2015 motion for rehearing without comment on January 30, 2015.

Deadline for PDR March 2, 2015

Length of Extension 34 days Sought

New Deadline Sought April 6, 2015, Monday

Number of Previous None Extensions Granted

REASON FOR EXTENSION

Mr. Pridgen’s lead attorney, Mr. Volberding, is an officer in the

U.S. Army Reserve. He will be deployed out of the country by the Army

for a short period from the end of February to mid-March. (The dates

and location are unclassified but inappropriate for public filing.) A

redacted copy of his orders are attached. This period of absence will

have the effect of compressing work on this and other cases before and

after the absence.

Pridgen v. State Pridgen’s Motion for Extension Page 3 of 5 Further, Mr. Volberding and the second attorney on the case, Mr.

Greg Smith, have a series of pending deadlines in other civil and

criminal appeals and trials. Finally, this is an appeal from a murder

conviction. The issues for the PDR are complex. This is Pridgen’s first

request for extension of his PDR and likely to be the only one.

WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, Mr. Pridgen’s counsel

respectfully asks the Court to extend to his rehearing motion deadline

34 days to April 6.

Respectfully submitted this 16 of February 2015, /s/ James W. Volberding By: ____________________________ JAMES W. VOLBERDING SBN: 00786313

100 E. Ferguson Street Suite 500 Tyler, Texas 75702 (903) 597-6622 (866) 398-6883 (Fax) e-mail: jamesvolberding@gmail.com

Attorney for Petitioner, Mr. Robert Lynn Pridgen

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of this pleading has been delivered this 16 day of February 2015 to: Pridgen v. State Pridgen’s Motion for Extension Page 4 of 5 Anderson Co. District Attorney Courthouse 500 North Church Street Palestine, TX 75801

by the following means:

_____ By U.S. Postal Service Certified Mail, R.R.R. _____ By First Class U.S. Mail _____ By Special Courier _______________________ _____ By Hand Delivery __X__ By Fax before 5 p.m. to (903) 723-7818 _____ By Fax after 5 p.m. _____ By email. /s/ James W. Volberding ____________________________ JAMES W. VOLBERDING

Pridgen v. State Pridgen’s Motion for Extension Page 5 of 5