Court Opinion

ID: 9777916
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:28:00.475603+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:02.520248
License: Public Domain

SEERDEN, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I also dissented on similar grounds in Gomez v. State, 763 S.W.2d 583 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi, 1988, no pet.), and joined with Justice Dorsey in his dissent in Garcia v. Kastner Farms, Inc., 761 S.W.2d 444 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi, 1988, no writ). While the principles applied are the same, a different rule of appellate procedure is involved. This case involves a Tex.R.App.P. 54(c) motion to file a statement of facts, rather than a notice of appeal. Since the filing of a statement of facts is not a jurisdictional matter, we have more discretion to grant this motion. .-
The danger of not granting the motion is similar to that in the Gomez case. An appeal’s purpose is to determine whether an individual has been lawfully convicted. The sufficiency of the evidence will not be considered except on direct appeal. See Willis v. State, 626 S.W.2d 500, 504 (Tex.Crim.App.1979); Ex parte Ash, 514 S.W.2d 762, 763 (Tex.Crim.App.1974). Without a statement of facts, we cannot properly review points on sufficiency of the evidence, and that review is forever lost to appellant.
In this case, we are precluding the review on the merits of any sufficiency questions by rejection of the filing of the statement of facts.
I would grant the motion for extension of time to file the statement of facts.
DORSEY, J., joins.