Randall Gene Looney v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: March 15, 2023
• Docket: 07-22-00299-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The Court of Appeals Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo

No. 07-22-00299-CR

RANDALL GENE LOONEY, APPELLANT

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE

On Appeal from the 485th District Court Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. 1584436D, Honorable Steve Jumes, Presiding

March 15, 2023 ORDER OF ABATEMENT AND REMAND Before QUINN, C.J., and PARKER and YARBROUGH, JJ.

Appellant, Randall Gene Looney, appeal his conviction for continuous sexual

abuse of a child1 and sentence to thirty years’ confinement.2 The appellate record was

originally due November 28, 2022. The clerk’s record was filed by this deadline, but the

reporter’s record was not. We subsequently granted the reporter three extensions to file

1 See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 21.02. 2Originally appealed to the Second Court of Appeals, this appeal was transferred to this Court by the Texas Supreme Court pursuant to its docket equalization efforts. See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 73.001. the reporter’s record due to her caseload. By letter of January 27, 2023, we admonished

the reporter that no further extensions would be granted and that failure to file the

reporter’s record by February 27 would result in the appeal being abated and the cause

remanded to the trial court for further proceedings without further notice. To date, the

reporter’s record has not been filed and the reporter has had no further communication

with this Court.

Accordingly, we abate the appeal and remand the cause to the trial court for further

proceedings. See TEX. R. APP. P. 35.3(c) (“The trial and appellate courts are jointly

responsible for ensuring that the appellate record is timely filed.”); 37.3(a)(2) (requiring

appellate courts to “make whatever order is appropriate to avoid further delay and to

preserve the parties’ rights” when the appellate record is not timely filed). On remand,

the trial court shall determine the following:

(1) what tasks remain to complete the filing of the reporter’s record;

(2) why the reporter has not completed the necessary tasks;

(3) what amount of time is reasonably necessary for the completion of those

tasks; and

(4) whether the reporter can complete the tasks within the time the trial court

finds reasonable.

Should the trial court determine that the reporter will require more than thirty days

to complete, certify, and file the reporter’s record, it shall arrange for a substitute reporter

to do so. The trial court is directed to enter such orders necessary to address the

aforementioned questions. So too shall it include its findings on those matters in a

2 supplemental clerk’s record and cause that record to be filed with this Court by April 14,

2023.

Should the reporter file the record on or before March 29, 2023, she is directed to

immediately notify the trial court of the filing, in writing, whereupon the trial court shall not

be required to take any further action.

It is so ordered.

Per Curiam

Do not publish.