No. 07-14-00440-CR 

RODERICK JORDAN § IN THE SEVENTH 

V. § COURT OF APPEALS 

THE STATE OF TEXAS § AT AMARILLO, TEXAS 

SECOND MOTION FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME 

IN WHICH TO FILE APPELLANT’S BRIEF 

TO THE HONORABLE JUDGES OF SAID COURT: 

COMES NOW Roderick Jordan, Appellant in this cause, by and through 

his duly appointed attorney on appeal, and requests that this Court further extend 

the time in which to file Appellant’s Brief. 

I. 

 Appellant was convicted of murder and sentenced to twenty (20) years’ 

imprisonment. 

II. 

The due date for Appellant’s Brief, set on one extension, is April 22, 2015. 

The case is not yet set for submission. 

III. 

 The undersigned attorney recognizes that, in its notice granting the previous 

extension of time, the clerk advised that the Court “does not grant requests for 

ACCEPTED

07-14-00440-CR

SEVENTH COURT OF APPEALS

AMARILLO, TEXAS

4/21/2015 4:09:16 PM

Vivian Long, Clerk

 FILED IN 7th COURT OF APPEALS AMARILLO, TEXAS 4/21/2015 4:09:16 PM VIVIAN LONG CLERK
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subsequent extensions absent good cause. The Court does not generally consider 

the normal press of business good cause. “ 

IV. 

Appellant submits that good cause exists for this requested extension. 

Appellant relies on the following facts to explain why the brief has not yet been 

prepared and the need for a further extension of time in which to file the brief: 

(1) The undersigned attorney’s work schedule, both on this case and on other 

matters, was disrupted by long standing vacation plans with non-refundable 

expenses from March 26 through March 30, 2015. Additionally, the undersigned 

attorney was out of her office for significant periods of time on April 7 and April 

20, 2015, to handle medical appointments and on April 16, 2015, to handle 

personal matters which could not be attended to on a weekend. The undersigned 

attorney’s spouse is scheduled for surgery on April 22 and April 29, 2015, which 

will necessitate additional time out of the office.

(2) The undersigned attorney presented oral argument in Mark McCay v. The 

State of Texas, No. 05-12-01199-CR, in the Fifth Court of Appeals on April 15, 

2015. The McCay record is in excess of 2000 pages and the case presents three 

issues of first impression regarding the indictment. All other legal work was 

suspended on April 7, 2015 and not resumed until April 17, 2015, so that the 

undersigned attorney could fully prepare for this unique oral argument. Indeed, 
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while the undersigned attorney usually requires 10-12 hours to fully prepare for 

oral argument on any given case, approximately 38 attorney hours were expended 

in oral argument preparation on McCay. 

(3) Prior to beginning work on this case, the undersigned attorney must 

complete and file a brief in Demuntra Rashard Green v. The State of Texas, No: 

05-14-01264-CR. Work on the Green brief began on April 2, 2015, and 

approximately 18 attorney hours have been expended on that case as of the date 

and time of this motion. The record, which is in excess of 400 pages, has been read 

in its entirety and four points of error are currently being researched. As noted in 

the preceding paragraph, however, work on that case was suspended on April 7, 

2015, to prepare for the McCay argument. The undersigned attorney hopes to have 

the Green brief completed and filed within the next 5-8 business days. 

 (4) Additionally, since March 13, 2015, the undersigned attorney has 

expended approximately 50 hours working on a brief in Terry Ray McMillan v. 

The State of Texas, No: 05-14-01419-CR. The record in the McMillan case is 

extensive, consisting of over 1300 pages. The case is currently on an abatement 

due to missing/destroyed exhibits. The trial court entered Findings this morning on 

the McMillan case and the undersigned attorney expects the abatement to be 

dissolved and the brief ordered filed within the next few weeks. 
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 (5) Lastly, the undersigned attorney is an adjunct professor at Texas A&M 

School of Law teaching a rigorous writing seminar this spring. Students turned in 

the first drafts of their seminar papers on March 31, 2015; the undersigned attorney 

returned fully critiqued papers to the students on April 14, 2015, so that the 

students would have a full two weeks to correct their work before submitting their 

final papers for final grades on April 28, 2015. Reading and critiquing the seminar 

papers consumed approximately 30 hours of the undersigned attorney’s time over 

the course of nights and weekends from April 1 through April 13, 2015. Those 

hours on nights and weekends would otherwise have been devoted to brief 

preparation in the undersigned attorney’s pending cases. 

(6) The brief in the case at bar is essentially “next” on the undersigned 

attorney’s docket and will be started just as soon as the Green and McMillan briefs 

are completed and filed. If the Fifth Court of Appeals affords significant additional 

briefing time on the McMillan case, the undersigned attorney will brief this case 

before completing the brief in McMillan. 

V. 

This Motion is not brought for purposes of delay but so that the lengthy 

appellate record in this case can be read and evaluated, and so that the legal and 

factual issues presented by the appellate record can be properly briefed and 

presented to this Court on Appellant’s behalf. 
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WHEREFORE, Appellant requests that this Court extend Appellant’s 

deadline to file his brief to May 22, 2015. If the undersigned attorney can file the 

brief sooner, she will do so. 

Respectfully submitted, 

 /s/ Katherine A. Drew 

Lynn Pride Richardson Katherine A. Drew 

Chief Public Defender Assistant Public Defender 

Dallas County, Texas State Bar No. 06117800 

 Frank Crowley Courts Building 

 133 N. Riverfront Blvd., LB-2 

 Dallas, Texas 75207-4399 

 (214) 875-2360 (phone)

 (214) 875-2363 (fax) 

 Kathi.Drew@dallascounty.org 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

 I hereby certify that a true copy of the foregoing motion was served on the 

Dallas County Criminal District Attorney’s Office (Appellate Section), 133 N. 

Riverfront Blvd., B-19, 10th Floor, Dallas, Texas, 75207, by both electronic 

transmission and by hand delivery on April 21, 2015. 

 /s/ Katherine A. Drew 

 Katherine A. Drew