NUMBER 13-20-00273-CR

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG

ROGELIO MARTINEZ, Appellant,

v.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.

On appeal from the 197th District Court

of Cameron County, Texas.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Longoria and Perkes

Memorandum Opinion by Justice Longoria

On June 24, 2020, Rogelio Martinez filed a notice of appeal from a judgment 

rendered in cause number 2011-DCR-2120-C in the 197th District Court of Cameron 

County, Texas. According to the judgment, appellant was convicted of the first-degree 

felony offense of burglary of a habitation and was sentenced to ninety-nine years of 
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imprisonment. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 30.02. The judgment, which was signed on 

February 29, 2012, indicates that sentence was imposed in this case on February 27, 

2012. 

A timely notice of appeal is necessary to invoke this Court’s jurisdiction. Smith v. 

State, 559 S.W.3d 527, 531 (Tex. Crim. App. 2018); Castillo v. State, 369 S.W.3d 196, 

198 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012); Olivo v. State, 918 S.W.2d 519, 522 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996). 

In a criminal case, a defendant’s notice of appeal is due within thirty days after the day 

sentence is imposed in open court, or ninety days after the sentence is imposed in open 

court if the defendant timely files a motion for new trial. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a)(1),(2); 

Smith, 559 S.W.3d at 531. While a court of appeals may extend the time to file the notice 

of appeal, both the notice of appeal and the motion for extension of time must be filed 

within fifteen days after the deadline for filing the notice of appeal. See id. R. 26.3. In the 

absence of a timely filed notice of appeal, a court of appeals does not have jurisdiction to 

address the merits of the appeal in a criminal case and can take no action other than to 

dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. Castillo, 369 S.W.3d at 198; Slaton v. State, 

981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998); Ex parte Matthews, 452 S.W.3d 8, 11 (Tex. 

App.—San Antonio 2014, no pet.).

Here, appellant’s notice of appeal was filed more than eight years after sentence 

was imposed and is untimely. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a)(1),(2). On July 15, 2020, the 

Clerk of the Court notified appellant of this defect so that it could be corrected, if possible, 

and advised appellant that the appeal would be dismissed if the defect was not cured. 

See TEX. R. APP. P. 37.1. Appellant did not respond to the Court’s directive. We note that 

only the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has jurisdiction to grant appellant an out-of-time
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appeal for his felony conviction. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art. 11.07; Ater v. Eighth Ct.

of Apps., 802 S.W.2d 241 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991) (explaining that a writ of habeas corpus 

pursuant to Article 11.07 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure governs out-of-time

appeals from felony convictions). This Court has no original habeas corpus jurisdiction in 

criminal cases. See Bd. of Pardons and Paroles ex rel. Keene v. Ct. of Apps. for the 

Eighth Dist., 910 S.W.2d 481, 483 (Tex. Crim. App. 1995); Ashorn v. State, 77 S.W.3d 

405, 409 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2002, pet. ref’d). Accordingly, we dismiss the 

appeal and all relief sought therein for lack of jurisdiction.

NORA L. LONGORIA

Justice

Do not publish. 

TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).

Delivered and filed the 

30th day of December, 2020.