Terry Preston Helmcamp v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: August 31, 2016
• Docket: 09-16-00281-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont ____________________ NO. 09-16-00281-CR ____________________

TERRY PRESTON HELMCAMP, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee _______________________________________________________ ______________

On Appeal from the 435th District Court Montgomery County, Texas Trial Cause No. 12-01-00757-CR ________________________________________________________ _____________

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Terry Preston Helmcamp appealed from the trial court’s May 20, 2016,

order denying Helmcamp’s motion for post-conviction DNA testing under Chapter

64 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. 64.05

(West 2006). We questioned our jurisdiction over the appeal because the notice of

appeal is dated July 27, 2016, more than thirty days after the date of the order

being appealed. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1).

1 In response to the notice, Helmcamp explained that he did not file his notice

of appeal sooner because he did not know that the trial court had signed the order

denying his motion. In a criminal case, being unaware that the order has been

signed does not excuse the untimely filing of the notice of appeal. Ex parte

Matthews, 452 S.W.3d 8, 11 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2014, no pet.). When a

notice of appeal is filed late in a criminal case, we must dismiss the appeal. Slaton

v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998). Accordingly, the appeal is

dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

APPEAL DISMISSED.

________________________________ STEVE McKEITHEN Chief Justice

Submitted on August 30, 2016 Opinion Delivered August 31, 2016 Do Not Publish

Before McKeithen, C.J., Horton and Johnson, JJ.