No. AP-77,054 

IN THE 

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas 

RODNEY REED, 

 Appellant, 

v. 

THE STATE OF TEXAS 

 Appellee. 

On Appeal from the 21st Judicial District Court, Bastrop County, Texas 

STATE’S MOTION FOR ACCELERATED APPEAL 

BRYAN GOERTZ 

Criminal District Attorney 

Bastrop County, Texas 

MATTHEW OTTOWAY 

Assistant Attorney General/ 

Assistant District Attorney 

Bastrop County, Texas 

Texas Bar No. 24047707 

Post Office Box 12548, Capitol Station 

Austin, Texas 78711 

Tel.: (512) 936-1400 

Fax: (512) 320-8132 

Email: matthew.ottoway@texasattorney

 general.gov 

Attorneys for the State

 

AP-77,054

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS

AUSTIN, TEXAS

Transmitted 1/27/2015 3:43:17 PM

Accepted 1/27/2015 3:51:31 PM

ABEL ACOSTA

CLERK
2 

MOTION FOR ACCELERATED APPEAL 

I. Relevant Procedural Background 

 Appellant, Rodney Reed, is a death-sentenced inmate with a 

presently-scheduled execution date of March 5, 2015. 3.CR.302–03. On 

July 14, 2014, Appellant sought additional DNA testing via Chapter 64 

of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. 2.CR.74–143. The State 

opposed. 2.CR.161–229. A live hearing was held on November 25, 2014, 

at which time the trial court denied Appellant’s Chapter 64 motion. 

4.RR.47. The denial was reduced to writing on December 12, 2014, and 

filed on December 16, 2014. 3.CR.342–48. Appellant’s notice of appeal 

was filed on January 12, 2015. 3.CR.359–60. 

 This Court received the reporter’s record on January 15, 2015, and 

the clerk’s record on January 16, 2015. Thus, Appellant’s opening brief 

is due February 17, 2015 (February 15 is a Sunday and February 16 is 

Presidents’ Day). Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 64.05; Tex. Gov’t Code § 

662.003(a)(3); Tex. R. App. P. 4.1, 38.6, 71.3. The State’s responsive brief 

would then be due March 19, 2015, two weeks after the presentlyscheduled execution date. Tex. R. App. P. 38.6, 71.3. 
3 

ARGUMENT 

I. The Court Should Accelerate This Appeal. 

Pursuant to Rule 38.6(d) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure, 

this Court may, “in the interests of justice, shorten the time for filing 

briefs and for submission of the case.” Tex. R. App. P. 38.6(d). Here, 

there are ample reasons to hasten the briefing and submission deadlines. 

 The most obvious and pressing reason to shorten the applicable 

deadlines is Appellant’s upcoming execution, now a little more than a 

month away. Utilizing the rule-based briefing deadlines would place the 

State’s response deadline beyond the presently-scheduled execution date, 

an obvious impossibility. Further, allowing Appellant the full thirty-day 

period for his opening brief would require an unduly short turnaround 

for the State’s responsive brief—nine days—in order to give the Court a 

minimum of a week to consider the appeal. 

 Additionally, Appellant—and any other death-sentenced, Texas 

inmate—alone controlled the timing of his Chapter 64 motion. Despite 

the fact that he was convicted and sentenced to death in 1998, and 

despite the fact that the statutory framework for postconviction DNA 

testing has been available since 2001, Act of April 5, 2001, 77th Leg., 

R.S., ch. 2, § 2, 2001 Tex. Sess. Law Serv. Ch. 2 (to be codified at Tex. 
4 

Code Crim. Proc. arts. 64.01–64.05), Appellant filed his Chapter 64 

motion fourteen years after his conviction and on the day his initial 

execution date was set. Compare 2.CR.74–143, with 2.CR.149–50. 

Indeed, the trial court found that Appellant had not adequately proven 

that his Chapter 64 motion was “not made to unreasonably delay the 

execution of sentence or administration of justice.” 3.CR.344; see Tex. 

Code Crim. Proc. art. 64.03(a)(2)(B). Accelerating this appeal would 

ensure that Appellant cannot “unreasonably delay [his] execution” by 

utilizing the full time limits permitted by rule. 

PRAYER FOR RELIEF 

 The State respectfully requests that the Court hasten the rulebased briefing deadlines. The State respectfully suggests that Appellant 

be permitted twenty days to file his opening brief and the State be 

allowed to respond fifteen days later; specifically, Appellant’s brief would 

be due February 5, 2015, and the State’s due on February 20, 2015. 

Respectfully submitted, 

BRYAN GOERTZ 

Criminal District Attorney 

Bastrop County, Texas 

 /s/ Matthew Ottoway 

MATTHEW OTTOWAY 

Assistant Attorney General/ 
5 

Assistant District Attorney 

Bastrop County, Texas 

Texas Bar No. 24047707 

Post Office Box 12548, Capitol Station 

Austin, Texas 78711 

Tel.: (512) 936-1400 

Fax: (512) 320-8132 

Email: matthew.ottoway@texasattorney 

 general.gov

Attorneys for the State 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

 I do hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing 

pleading was served by placing same in the United States mail, postage 

prepaid, on this the 27th day of January, 2015, addressed and 

electronically sent to: 

Bryce Benjet Mark S. Chehi 

40 Worth Street, Suite 701 Robert A. Weber 

New York, New York, 10013 Jason M. Liberi 

bbenjet@innocenceproject.org Nicole A. DiSalvo 

 Andrew G. Mirsis 

Andrew F. MacRae SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, MEAGHER & 

LEVATINO PACE LLP FLOM LLP 

1101 S. Capital of Texas Hwy. One Rodney Square, P.O. Box 636 

Building K, Suite 125 Wilmington, Delaware 19899 

Austin, Texas 78746 mchehi@skadden.com

amacrae@levatinopace.com robert.weber@skadden.com 

 /s/ Matthew Ottoway 

MATTHEW OTTOWAY 

Assistant Attorney General/ 

Assistant District Attorney 

Bastrop County, Texas