Robert Louis Martin v. State

Opinion

ACCEPTED

14-14-00730-CV

FOURTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS

1/27/2015 5:27:59 PM

CHRISTOPHER PRINE

CLERK

No. 14-14-00730-CV

In the FILED IN 14th COURT OF APPEALS

Court of Appeals HOUSTON, TEXAS For the 1/27/2015 5:27:59 PM Fourteenth District of Texas CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE Clerk

At Houston

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No. 877816

In the 232nd District Court Of Harris County, Texas

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ROBERT LOUIS MARTIN

Appellant

v.

THE STATE OF TEXAS

Appellee

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State’s Motion for Extension Of Time to File Brief

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To the Honorable Court of 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. The following facts are relevant:

1. In 2002, the appellant was found not guilty, by reason of insanity, of aggravated assault. (CR 29, 39). Except for a few months in2007, the appellant has been involuntarily committed to an inpatient mental health hospital ever since. (CR 29-30, 68, 71, 94 104, 126, 141, 179). In May, 2014, the hospital recommended that the appellant be discharged to an outpatient facility. (CR 154-166). The trial court held the required annual hearing for the appellant and, after a hearing, found that he was likely to cause serious harm to others and renewed the order for the appellant to remain in an inpatient facility for another year. (CR 179). The appellant filed a notice of appeal and the trial court certified his right to appeal. (CR 180, 183). 2. The State’s brief is quite late. The State’s brief was due on December 29, 2014. This Court sent out a late-brief notice on January 13, 2015, and apparently received no reply from the State. On January 21, 2015, this Court sent out notice that this case was set for submission without a State’s brief. According to this Court’s website, this case will be submitted for decision on March 17, 2015 3. This case was assigned to the undersigned attorney on January 26, 2015. The prosecutor to whom this case was previously assigned is no long with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. 4. Despite the Court having already set the case for submission, the State requests that this Court grant the State a 30-day extension from

January 26, 2015 to allow the State to submit a brief. This would produce a deadline of February 25, 2015.

5. The reason 30 days is necessary is that, partly as a result of personnel changes in the appellate section of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, the undersigned attorney already has briefs due in five other cases, and two of those cases have orders stating that nor further extensions can be granted. Regrettably, not all of these cases can be the undersigned attorney’s number one priority, but, if this motion is granted, the undersigned attorney will ensure that this Court receives a brief from the State by the proposed deadline.

WHEREFORE, the State prays that this Court will grant the requested extension.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ C.A. Morgan

CLINTON A. MORGAN

Assistant District Attorney Harris County, Texas

1201 Franklin, Suite 600

Houston, Texas 77002-1923 (713) 755-5826

morgan_clinton@dao.hctx.net TBC No. 24071454

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I certify that I have requested that efile.txcourts.gov electronically serve a copy of this motion to:

Ken Goode Goodekc@msn.com

/s/ C.A. Morgan

CLINTON A. MORGAN

Assistant District Attorney Harris County, Texas

1201 Franklin, Suite 600

Houston, Texas 77002-1923 (713) 755-5826

morgan_clinton@dao.hctx.net TBC No. 24071454

Date: January 27, 2015