PD-0483-1

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL

FILEDIN AUSTIN, TEXA

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS Transmitted 11/13/2015 9:40:30 Al

. _ ondC Accepted 11/13/2015 9:44:15 Al November 13,2015 ^ .„. ArriQT TO THE COURT OF CRIMINALAPPEALS ABEL ATMI

ABEL ACOSTA. CLERK

CLER

No. PD-0483-15 . 7TT£

Ruben Totten

On appeal from the 230th

vs. District Court of Harris County

W^-VT

State of Texas

Trial Cause Number 1365961

COA#01-14-00189-CR

Appellant's Final Motion to Extend Time

to File Brief on the Merits

for One day—Brief Already Filed

To The HonorableJudges Of The Court Of Criminal Appeals:

COMES NOW, Ruben TOTTEN, and files this his Motion to Extend Time to File Brief

on the Merits, and in support thereof, would respectfully show the Court the following:

I.

Appellant's brief on the merits was due on November 10th. The brief was filed on

November 11th. One previous motion for extension has been filed.

II.

On the evening in which she was about to e-file the brief, counsel experienced a series

of frustrating computer errors which resulted in lost and un-updated files. Some of it

had to be retreived from other sources and some of it had to be recreated. This caused

the brief to be filed just after the deadline. Counsel apologizes for the unintentional

delay and for any inconvenience to this Honorable Court or to its very gracious Clerk's

office.

This motion is in accordance with Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 10.5(b) and

38.6(d)("A motion to extend the time to file a brief may be filed before or after the date

the brief is due.").
III.

Counsel additionally requests an extension due to the fact that our Appellate Division

is currently very understaffed as we are down to 6 attorneys from an original 10

attorneys. We are in the process of hiring additional attorneys. In the meantime,

Counsel is working an extensive amount of overtime and has filed 23 briefs for criminal

appellants so far this year, in addition to all of the client-centered duties such

representation entails.

Additionally,counsel is the PDO's "Intern and Career Development Coordinator" who

runs the office's intern program which requires daily attention and the FACT (Future

Appointed Counsel Training) Program implemented from a federal grant to oversee the

training of new lawyers. Counsel is also on the Board of Directors for the Harris

County Criminal Lawyers Association which requires some time although most of

those duties have recently had to be placed on the back-burner.

Counsel has been engaged in work in the Harris County Public Defender's Office on

many cases, include the following:

Lenin Lopet^ 01-13-01079-CR, reversed and set for rehearing in cause #1403196

Joseph Smith, 14-15-00625-CR

Darryle Robertson, 14-15-00132-CR

Hugo Pachas-Lunas, 01-14-00516-CR

Michael Davila, 01-15-00560-CR

Stephen Hopper, 14-15-00371-CR

Domingo Medina, 01-15-00575-CR

Kori Henegar, 14-15-00529-CR

Craig Beat, 01-12-00896-CR

Corey Nickerson, 01-15-00764-CR through 01-15-00766-CR

Emanuel Hayes, 1408364

Research and writing in preparation for several cases for the trial division of

the Harris County Public Defender's Office.
IV.

Appellant's attorney requests an extension of 1 day, until November 11, which is

necessary so that the brief can be thoroughly written and timely filed. This motion is

not made for the purpose of delay.

PRAYER

Wherefore, Premises Considered, Appellant prays that this Honorable Court

grants this requested extension of time to file the appellant's brief on the merits in the

above cause and extend the time for filing to November 11, 2015, the day on which the

brief was filed.

Respectfully submitted,

Alexander Bunin

Chief Public Defender

Harris County, Texas

/s/Sarah V.Wood

Sarah V. Wood

Assistant Public Defender

Harris County, Texas

Texas Bar Number 24048898

1201 Franklin, 13th Floor

Houston Texas 77002

713.368.0016 (phone)

713.368.9278 (fax)

Sarah.Wood@pdo.hctx.net

Certificate of Service

By my signature below, I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the above and

foregoing Appellant's Motion to Extend Time to File Brief on the Merits has been

served on the State Prosecuting Attorney and the District Attorney of Harris County,
Texas, via the e-file service.

/s/Sarah V Wood