PD-0483-1 COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL FILEDIN AUSTIN, TEXA COURT OF CRIMINALAPPEALS 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 ABELATMI ABEL ACOSTA. CLERK CLER No. PD-0483-15

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Ruben Totten On appeal from the 230th vs. District Court ofHarris County 

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State ofTexas 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—BriefAlready Filed



### To TheHonorableJudges OfThe CourtOfCriminalAppeals: COMES NOW, Ruben TOTTEN, and files this his Motion to Extend Time to File Brief 

### on the Merits, and in supportthereof, would respectfully show the Courtthe 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-filethe 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 anyinconvenience 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 abriefmay be filedbefore 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, Counselisworking an extensive amountofovertime 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 CareerDevelopmentCoordinator" who runs the office's intern program which requires daily attention and the FACT (Future 

### Appointed Counsel Training)Programimplemented from a federalgrantto 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: 

### LeninLopet^ 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 KoriHenegar, 14-15-00529-CR CraigBeat, 01-12-00896-CR 

### CoreyNickerson, 01-15-00764-CR through 01-15-00766-CR EmanuelHayes, 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