Court Opinion

ID: 9755412
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:37:29.84746+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:07.102379
License: Public Domain

CASTILLO, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I believe that the written notice of appeal was untimely filed and the appeal should be dismissed for want of jurisdiction.
Judgment of conviction was entered on June 15, 2000. On June 16, 2000, Palma requested the appointment of appellate counsel, and the trial court appointed appellate counsel for him on that same day. Accordingly, throughout the entirety of his appellate timetable, Palma was represented by counsel. Still, Palma didnot file a motion for new trial and he did not file a notice of appeal with the trial court pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 26.2(a)(1) during the thirty days available for him to do so. Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1). Neither did he file a motion with this Court requesting additional time to file his notice of appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.3; Tex. R. App. P. 10.5(b). His notice of appeal was not filed until August 25, 2000, sixty-nine days after his sentence.
I disagree with the majority holding that the letter Palma sent to the trial court on June 26, 2000 requesting clarification on issues such as whether he had an appellate lawyer, the amount of his appeal bond, the length of his sentence, and how much prison time served he had accumulated constituted an independent notice of appeal suf*647ficient to confer jurisdiction upon this court. I do not believe that this letter evidenced a clear intention to file an appeal sufficient to comply -with the independent notice requirement set forth in Shute v. State. Shute v. State, 744 S.W.2d 96, 97 (Tex. Crim. App. 1988); see also Rivera v. State, 940 S.W.2d 148, 149 (Tex.App.— San Antonio 1996, no pet.) (appellant’s pauper’s oath and request for appellate counsel not sufficient as notice of appeal); Cooper v. State, 917 S.W.2d 474, 477 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1996, pet. ref'd) (order in transcript appointing counsel did not constitute timely appeal, but was merely paperwork to be used if appellant decided to appeal); Williford v. State, 909 S.W.2d 605 (court rejects appellant’s request to consider affidavit of indigence and appointment of counsel on appeal as a notice of appeal). Nor would I relax the notice requirements set forth in Rule 26.2(a)(1) in a situation where appellant was already represented by legal counsel. Tex. R. App. P. 26.2 (a)(1).
I would hold that Palma failed to timely file a notice of appeal, and therefore I would dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction.