APPELLATE COURT CAUSE NUMBER 03—14—00088—CR 

 APPELLATE COURT CAUSE NUMBER 03—14—00408—CR 

DARIUS DONTAE LOVINGS IN THE COURT OF 

 

V. CRIMINAL APPEALS 

 

STATE OF TEXAS STATE OF TEXAS 

APPELLANT’S MOTION TO EXTEND TIME FOR FILING OF 

PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW 

TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS: 

COMES NOW THE APPELLANT, by and through his appointed 

attorney of record, Paul M. Evans, in the above entitled and numbered 

causes, and moves this Court, to grant the Appellant’s Motion to Extend 

Time for Filing of Petition for Discretionary Review, and, in support 

thereof, would show the Court as follows: 

 I.

A Memorandum Opinion was issued by the Honorable Third Court of 

Appeals in the instant causes on March 17, 2016. Motions for Rehearing 

and Rehearing En Banc were overruled on April 22, 2016. By operation of 

Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure §§ 4.1(a) and 68.2(a), the deadline to 

file a Petition for Discretionary Review in the instant causes falls on this 

date, May 23, 2016. 

PD-0571&0572-16

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS

AUSTIN, TEXAS

Transmitted 5/23/2016 10:11:28 PM

Accepted 5/24/2016 4:27:26 PM

ABEL ACOSTA

CLERK
Pursuant to Rule § 68.2(a), this Court “may extend the time for filing 

a petition for discretionary review if a party files a motion complying with 

Rule § 10.5(b) no later than 15 days after the last day for filing the petition.” 

The undersigned counsel shall forthwith respectfully request that the 

deadlines for filing a Petition for Discretionary Review in the instant causes 

be extended to 5:00 PM Central Standard Time on June 3, 2016. 

The undersigned counsel hereby wishes to relay “the facts relied on to 

reasonably explain the need for an extension.” See Rule § 10.5(b)(1)(C).

 II. 

The undersigned counsel’s best friend, Kenneth Lee Wagner, died at 

the premature age of 44 years on April 28, 2016. Mr. Wagner had endured 

49 agonizing days in an intensive care unit at the time of his demise. The 

circumstances leading up to this event were tragic, and senseless, beyond 

comprehension. Said event has taken an enormous toll on the undersigned 

counsel, a solo practitioner with no support staff, and he has struggled to 

maintain his practice as well as his composure in the wake of this “event,” 

for lack of a better word. Said event has changed the course of the 

undersigned counsel’s entire life, in every aspect and manner. 
 III. 

The undersigned counsel is still quite affected by the events and 

circumstances of the preceding months. “Traumatized” would be an 

appropriate term to employ, yet it fails miserably to adequately describe 

how the undersigned counsel feels. On the date of the filing of the instant 

motion, at the request of Mr. Wagner’s mother, the undersigned counsel 

made arrangements to have his obituary printed in the Austin American 

Statesman on May 25, 2016. The undersigned counsel has hastily made 

arrangements to attend Mr. Wagner’s funeral on May 28, 2016, in Camden, 

North Carolina. 

 IV. 

On March 1, 2016, the undersigned counsel had been appointed to a 

client named Malique Jackson on a charge of Aggravated Robbery. On 

April 22, 2016, the undersigned counsel was informed that the Travis 

County District Attorney had indicted said charge as a Theft, Class B 

misdemeanor, trial court Cause Number C-1-CR-16—400493. Said offense 

was scheduled for a jury trial in Travis County Court at Law # 9 on the date 

of the instant filing, May 23, 2016. The Travis County Attorney dismissed 

the cause on this same date, after the undersigned counsel invested forty 

hours of his time during the course of last week alone on trial preparation 
and investigation of the underlying circumstances. Additionally, during this 

same time frame, the undersigned counsel has put considerable time, effort, 

and energy towards completion of an Appellant’s Brief in Robleto v. State 

before the Honorable Third Court of Appeals, Cause Numbers 03—15—

00482—CR, 03—15—00483—CR, and 03—15—00484—CR, which is 

due on June 1, 2016. 

 V.

In sum, the deadline in the instant cause fell directly into the “perfect 

storm,” so to speak, at a point where the undersigned counsel’s powers of 

concentration and ability to maintain his composure have been 

compromised to a degree that the undersigned counsel has never personally 

experienced. Without causing undue sacrifice—if not outright violence—to 

the quality of representation to his other clients with pressing and urgent 

circumstances of their own, the undersigned counsel can assert in good faith 

that he could not have feasibly filed a presentable Petition for Discretionary 

Review in the instant causes on the “de facto” deadline of May 23, 2016. 

The undersigned counsel reluctantly begs this Honorable Court to grant its 

indulgence and allow the applicable deadline to be extended to Friday, June 

3, 2016.
 VI. 

This Motion is not made for purposes of delay, but so that justice 

might be served. 

WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, the Defendant 

respectfully prays that this Court, upon good cause shown as cited above, 

grant the Appellant’s Motion to Extend Time for Filing of Petition for 

Discretionary Review, so that the deadline may be extended to 5:00 PM 

Central Standard Time on Friday, June 3, 2016. 

 Respectfully submitted,

 Law Office of Paul M. Evans

 811 Nueces Street

 Austin, Texas 78701

 (512) 569-1418

(512) 551-1550 FAX

 paulmatthewevans@hotmail.com

 _/s/ Paul M. Evans________ 

 PAUL M. EVANS

 SBN 24038885

 Attorney for Defendant
 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

 I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the above and foregoing 

was delivered by facsimile unto the office of the prosecuting attorney for the 

State of Texas—the Travis County District Attorney, mailing address P.O. 

Box 1748, Austin, TX, 78767, physical address 509 W. 11th Street, Austin, 

TX, 78701—on this the 23rd day of May, 2016. 

 I hereby further certify that a true and correct copy of the above and 

foregoing was delivered by facsimile unto the State’s Prosecuting Attorney, 

Lisa C. McMinn—mailing address P.O. Box 13046, Austin, TX, 78701-

3046, physical address 209 W. 14th Street, Austin, TX, 78701—on this the 

23rd day of May, 2016. 

 _/s/ Paul M. Evans________ 

 PAUL M. EVANS

 CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

 I hereby certify that the present document contains 1018 words, all 

contents included. 

 _/s/ Paul M. Evans________ 

 PAUL M. EVANS