1 John T. Boyd, Chief Justice (Re t.), Sev enth Co urt of A ppe als, sitting by as sign me nt. Tex. Gov’ t Code

An n. §7 5.00 2(a)(1 ) (Ve rnon Su pp. 2 004 ).NO. 07-03-0452-CR IN THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH DISTRICT OF TE XAS

AT AMARILLO PANEL E JANUARY 22, 2004

______________________________ JEFFERY THOMAS PARADISE, Appellant
v. THE STA

TE OF TEX

AS, Appellee

_________________________________ FROM THE 411TH DISTRICT COURT OF POLK COUNTY; NO. 17,149; HON. ROBERT HILL TRAPP, PRESIDING

_______________________________ ABATEMENT AND RE MAND

__________________________________ Before QUINN and REAVIS, JJ., and BOYD, S.J. 1 Jeffery Thomas Paradise (appellant) appeals his con viction for ind ecency with a child. The clerk’s record was filed on October 27, 2003, and the reporter’s record wasfiled
on Decembe r 1, 2003

. Thus, appellant’s brief wa s due on December 31, 2003 . Howeve r, one was not filed on that date. On January 9, 200 4, this Court notified counsel for appellant

that neither the brief nor an extension of time to file app ellant’s brief had been2

filed. Counsel for appellant was also admonished that

if appellant did not respond to the court’s letter by

January 20, 2004, the appeal would b e abated to the tri al court. That da te has passed, and appellant has not filed a brief or moved for an exten sion. Nor has he responded to the court’s January 9 th letter. Consequently, we abate this appeal an d re mand the cause to the 411th District Court of Polk County (trial court) for further proceedings. Upon remand, the trial court shall immediatelycause notice of a hearing to be given and, the reafter, co nduct a h earing to determine the following: 1. whether appellant desires to prosecute the appeal; 2. whether appellant is indigent and entitled to appointed counsel; and, 3. whether ap pella nt has been denied the effective assistanceof counsel due to appel late counsel ’s failu re to time ly file a n appell ate brief

. See Evitts v. Lucey , 469 U.S. 387, 394 , 105 S.C t. 830, 834-35, 83 L.Ed.2d 821, 828 (1985) (holding that an indigent defendant is entitled to the effective assistance of counsel on the first appeal as of right and that counsel must be available to ass ist in preparing and submitting an appella te brief). We further direct the trial court to issue findings of fact and concl usions of law addressing the foregoing subjects. Should the trial cou rt find th at appel lant des ires to p ur sue this appeal, is indigent, has appointed counsel, and has been denied effective assistance of counsel, or has no counsel, then we further di rect itto appoint new counsel to assist in the prosecution of the appeal. The name, address, phone n umbe r, telefax number, and state bar number of the new counsel who will represent appellant on appeal mustalso be included in the court’s findi ngs of fact and conclusions of law. Furthermore, the trial court shall also cause to be devel oped 1) a supplemental clerk’s record containing the findings of fact and conclusions of law and 2) a reporter’s record transcribing the3

evidence and argu ment prese nted at th e aforeme ntioned hearing. Addition ally, the trial court shall cause the suppleme ntal cle rk’s reco rd to be fil ed with t he clerk of this court on
or before February 23, 2004. Should additional time be n eeded toperform these tasks, the trial court may request same on or before February 23, 2004. It is so ordered. Per Curiam Do not publish.