FILED IN COURT OF CRIMINALAPPEALS December 15, 2015 ABELACOSTA, CLERK NO. AP-77,053

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS STATE OF TEXAS AP-77,053 COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS Transmitted 12/15/2015 3:55:07 PM Accepted 12/15/2015 3:58:22 PM ABEL ACOSTA CLERK


# a-^l*

ERIC LYLE WILLIAMS Appellant,

v. THE STATE OF TEXAS Appellee. 

# _^?£>v On appealfrom aconviction in the422ndJudicial DistrictCourt ,r^^ 

## ofKaufman County, Texas in CauseNumber32031-422 v the Honorable, Michael R. Snipes, Judge Presiding APPELLANT'S MOTION TO ABATEAPPEAL OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, EXTEND THE TIME TO FILE BRIEF TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS: 

### The Appellant, Eric Williams, by and through his court appointed 

### attorney, respectfully requests that the Court abate the instant appeal, or, in the alternative, extend the time for filing the Appellant's brieffor 90 days. In support ofthis Motion, Appellant would show this Honorable Courtthe following:
I. 

### Appellant is confined pursuantto thejudgement and sentence ofthe 

### 422nd Judicial District Court of Kaufman County, convicting him ofthe

### offense of capital murder. On December 17th, 2014, thejuryanswered the special issues so as to support the imposition of a death sentence, and the trial court sentenced him to death. Appeal to this Court was automatic. The deadline for filingAppellant's briefis December 31, 2015. This is Appellant's second requestfor an extension inthis case, ifnecessary. II. Appellant respectfully requests that the Court abate the instant 

### appeal or, inthe alternative, extend the deadline forfiling ofAppellant's brieffor until March 31,2016.
III. 

### Appellant would show the Courtthat a reasonable explanation exists for the requested abatement or 90-day extension: The Clerk's Record in the instant case is incomplete. Juror 

### questionnaires were used bythe State and Defense to give information on eachjurorthat was relied upon inexercising peremptory challenges and 

### challenges for cause to prospective venire persons inthejury selection process. Appellant's appellate counsel has requested the Kaufman 

### County District Clerk make thesejuryquestionnaires available to counsel to aid counsel properly review the appellate record inpreparation of Appellant's brief. The district clerk advised counsel that there arenumerous boxes ofpaper questionnaires that were placed in her possession, but there also is a digital media disk containing the scanned questionnaires and that itwould be made available to Appellant's counsel. Counsel was contacted by lead prosecutor, Hon. Bill Wirskye, who telephoned me and told me that the Clark had contacted him, because the disk media that was marked questionnaires that was thought to contain the desired information from the questionnaires did not and would he help locate the disk media. Counsel was advised that Mr. Wirskye was going to help the clerk locate this information. Appellant's counsel has also advised the district clerk that he intended to file a motion with this Honorable Court to supplement the Clerk's Record with these questionnaires under seal or with redacted personal information from the questionnaires. This type ofinformation from the questionnaire is very necessary to be reviewed indeciding which issues during the voir direjury selection process should be raised in the briefon appeal. This information has been made available to counsel in other death penalty appeal cases by this Honorable Court. IV. Appellant respectfully requests that the Court abate the instant appeal and allow the Kaufman County District Clerk's Office a reasonableamount oftime to supplement the record, either by locating the missing 

### documents or by notifying the parties thatthe missing records cannot be found at which time the parties may attempt to enter into a stipulation 

### regarding the documents. Inthe eventthat the instant appeal is abated, Appellant respectfully requests that the time forfiling the Appellant's brief be extended for 60 days from the date offiling ofthe supplemental clerk's
record. 

### Appellantfullyrecognizes that the requestfor an abatement is 

### unusual. But, Appellant's only goal inrequesting an abatement is simply to allow sufficient time to compile a complete and accurate record containing 

### thejurorquestionnaires under seal or redacted in this case. V. Status of Appellant's Brief Appellant's counsel believes that 50% ofthe work necessary to complete Appellant's briefhas been completed. The appellate record is 

### very large with 69 volumes and inexcess of 10,679 pages. The summarization ofthe testimony has been completed which took an 

### inordinate amount of time given that there were more than 100 witnesses and three volumes for the Motion for New Trial. Appellant's counsel has 

### begun work on thejury selection process and requires thejurorquestionnaires to fully develop any voir dire issues for inclusion inthe appellate brief. Counsel has been in contactwith the District Clerk of Kaufman County who is working to obtain thesejurorquestionnaires and has also filed a motion to supplement the record with thejuror questionnaires with this Court. Appellant's counsel has been working to identify the numerous complex issues to be presented inthe appellate 

### brief. For these reasons and due to the gravity ofthe sentence, Appellant's counsel requests additional time to prepare the appellate brief.
VI. 

### The undersigned has consulted with State's appellate counsel and 

### she has no objection to Appellant's requestfor an abatement or, inthe alternative, a 90-day extension of time to filethe Appellant's brief. For allthe ofthe foregoing reasons, the State respectfully requests that this Court abate the instant appeal so thatthe Clerk's Record may be properly supplemented. Should the appeal be abated, Appellant requests that the deadline for filingAppellant's brief be extended 60 days afterthefiling ofthe supplemental clerk's record. Alternatively, Appellant requests that the time for filingAppellant's briefbe extended until March 31, 2016.
Respectfully submitted, /s/ John Tatum JOHN TATUM 990 SOUTH SHERMAN STREET RICHARDSON, TEXAS 75081 (972) 705-9200 BAR NO. 19672500

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

### Ihereby certify that a copy ofthis Motion has been delivered to 

### Fredericka Sargent, Kaufman County District Attorney Pro Tern , c/o Criminal Appeals Division Office ofthe Attorney General at P.O. Box 12548 Austin, Texas 78711-2548 on this the 15th day of December, 2015.

Is/ John Tatum John TatumCERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE Icertifythat this submitted e-mail attachment to file Motion to Abate Appeal or, inthe Alternative, Extend Time to File Briefcomplies with the following requirements ofthe Court: 1. The petition is submitted by e-mail attachment; 2. The e-mail attachment is labeled with the following information:
A. Case Name: Eric Lyle Williams B. The Appellate Case Number: AP-77,053 C. The Type of Document: Motion 

### D. Party for whom the document is being submitted: Appellant E. The Word Processing Software and Version Used to Prepare the Motion : Word Perfect X7 

### 3. Copies have been sentto all parties associated withthis case. 

### Is/John Tatum 12/15/15 (Signature offiling party and date) John Tatum (Printed name) John Tatum, Attorney at Law Emailed Copy of Motion