NO. 07-03-0325 -CR IN THE COU RT OF APP EALS FOR THE SEVENT H DISTRICT OF TEXAS

AT AMA RILLO PANE L B NOVEM BER 5, 2 003

______________________________ CHRISTOPHER EVA N HEFNER, Appellant
v. THE STATEOF TEXAS , Appellee

_________________________________ FROM THE 84 TH DISTRICT COURT OF HUTCHINSON CO UNTY; NO. 8938; HON. W ILLIAM D. SMITH, PRE SIDING

_______________________________ ABATEMENT AND REMAND

__________________________________ Before JOHNSON, C.J., and QUINN and CAMPBELL, JJ. Christopher

Evan Hefner

(appellant) appeals his conviction for enticing a chil d. The court received the com plete appellate record byAugust 14, 2003. Thus, appellant’s brief
wasdue on Septem ber 14, 2003. How ever, one was not filed on that date. Instead, counsel for appellant moved to extend the deadline, and the l atter wasextended to October 13, 200 3. Rath er t han file a brief on that date, counse l for appellant again moved for an ext en si on , a nd we then ex tended t he briefing d eadline to N ovem ber 3, 20 03. B efore2

us is a third motion requesting an additional extens ion. Furthermore, t he reason proffered to justify it is akin to those used to obtain the prior exten sions; that is, counsel for appellant represents that he has not had the tim e to research or com plete the research “on the legal issue in th is case. ” Consequentl y, we abate this appeal and remand the cause to the 84 th District C ourt of H utchinso n Count

y (trial cou rt) for f

urther pr oceedings . Upon rem and, th e tri al cour t sha ll imm ediatel y cause notice of a hea ring to be g iven and, the reafter, condu cta hearing to determ ine the following: 1. w het her

app ellan t de sire s topro sec utetheapp eal; 2. wheth erappellant is indigent and entitl ed to appointed counsel; 3. w het her

cou nse l for

app ellan t ha s ab and one d th e ap pea l; 4. whether

appellant has been denied the effective assistance of counsel due to appellate c ounsel’s failure to timely file an appellate brief. See Evi tts v. Lucey

, 469 U .S. 387, 394, 105 S.Ct. 830, 834-35, 83 L.Ed.2d 821, 828 (1985) (holding that an indigent defendant is entitled to the ef fective assistance of counsel on the first appeal as of right and that counsel must be ava ilableto assist in p reparing and subm itting an appellate brief); and, 5. whether

the appe llan t should be appointed new counsel on app eal. We furt her direct t he trial court to issue findings of fact and conclusions of law addressing the foregoing subj ects. Should the trial court find that app ellan t desires to pursue this appeal, is indigent, and has been denied effective assistance of counsel, or if it isdeterm ined that counsel has abandoned the app eal, then we f urther dire ct the court3

to appoint new couns el to represent appellant in the appeal. The name, address, phone
num ber, telefax num ber, and state bar nu mb er o f th e ne w

cou nse l, if

any , w ho w ill representappellant on appeal must also be included in the court’ s findings of fact and conclusions of l aw . Fu rth erm ore , th e tr ial c ourt shal l also caus e to be d eveloped 1 ) a supplem ental clerk ’s record containing the findings of fact and conclusions of law and 2)
a reporter’s record transcribing the e v idence and argum ent presented at the aforem entioned hearing . Addition ally, thetria l cou rt s hall cause the suppl emental clerk’s record to be filed with thecler k of this cou rt o n or

bef ore Decem ber

5, 2 003 . S hou ld additional time be needed to performthese tasks, the trial court may request sam e on or before Decem ber 5, 2003. It is so ordered. Per Curiam Do not publish.