Rivers, Warren D.

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: June 14, 2016
• Docket: AP-77,051
• Status: Published

Opinion

AP-77,051 COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS FILED IN AUSTIN, TEXAS COURT OF CRIMINALAPPEALS Transmitted 6/14/2016 8:48:02 AM Accepted 6/14/2016 8:52:07 AM June 14, 2016 ABEL ACOSTA No. AP-77,051 CLERK ABELACOSTA, CLERK In the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas

No. 475122 In the 228th District Court Of Harris County, Texas

WARREN D. RIVERS Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS Appellee

STATE'S MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE BRIEF IN DEATH PENALTY APPEAL

TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS:

THE STATE OF TEXAS, pursuant to Tex. R. App. P. 2 & 10.5, moves for

an extension of time in which to file its appellate brief and in its motion, would

show the Court the following:

1. The appellant was previously convicted of the capital murder of Carl

Nance committed on May 3, 1987 (CR - 172) (CR Supp. - 129). But he

was granted a new punishment hearing in 2010. See Rivers v. Thaler, 389

Fed. Appx. 360, 361 (5th Cir. 2010). At the conclusion of the most

recent punishment hearing, the jury found that the murder was committed

deliberately, that the appellant was a continuing threat to society, and that

there were insufficient mitigating circumstances to justify only a life

sentence (CR Supp. - 140-144). Therefore, he was sentenced to death on 1 November 18, 2014 (CR - 172). Appeal to this Court is automatic. Tex.

Code Crim. Proc. art. 37.0711 §3(j).

2. The State's brief is due on June 15, 2016. The State hereby requests a

90-day extension for the filing of the State's brief.

3. The following facts are relied upon to show good cause for an extension

of time to allow the State to file its brief:

a. The record in this case is over 300 megabytes in length split over 39 files. Therefore, processing the record with take a substantial amount of time.

b. The undersigned attorney has researched and answered by email more than 90 legal questions of trial prosecutors since the appellant filed his brief. The undersigned attorney researched and answered even more such questions by phone during that time period.

c. The undersigned attorney has completed the following written appellate project since the appellant filed his brief:

(1) Gareic Hankston v. The State of Texas No.PD-0887-15 Brief on PDR filed May 19, 2016

(2) John Buentello v. The State of Texas No. 01-15-00834-CR BrieffiledMay27, 2016

(3) Gustavo Vasquez v. The State of Texas No. 14-15-00380-CR Brief filed June 13,2016 WHEREFORE, the State prays that this Court will grant the requested extension.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Eric Kugler Eric Kugler Assistant District Attorney Harris County, Texas 1201 Franklin, Suite 600 Houston, Texas 77002-1923 (713)274-5826 Kugler_eric@dao.hctx.net TBC No. 796910

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE This is to certify that a copy of the foregoing instrument will be served by efile.txcourts.gov to:

Patrick McCann Attorney at Law 909 Texas Ave., Suite 205 Houston, Texas 77002 writlawyer@justice.com

/s/ Eric Kugler Eric Kugler Assistant District Attorney Harris County, Texas 1201 Franklin, Suite 600 Houston, Texas 77002-1923 (713)274-5826 TBC No. 796910 Date: June 14,2016