Court Opinion

ID: 4030512
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2016-09-01 05:31:10.991676+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:30:32.505439
License: Public Domain

In The

                               Court of Appeals
                    Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont
                           ____________________
                              NO. 09-16-00281-CR
                           ____________________

                 TERRY PRESTON HELMCAMP, Appellant

                                        V.

                      THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
_______________________________________________________         ______________

                   On Appeal from the 435th District Court
                        Montgomery County, Texas
                      Trial Cause No. 12-01-00757-CR
________________________________________________________         _____________

                         MEMORANDUM OPINION

      Terry Preston Helmcamp appealed from the trial court’s May 20, 2016,

order denying Helmcamp’s motion for post-conviction DNA testing under Chapter

64 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. 64.05

(West 2006). We questioned our jurisdiction over the appeal because the notice of

appeal is dated July 27, 2016, more than thirty days after the date of the order

being appealed. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1).

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      In response to the notice, Helmcamp explained that he did not file his notice

of appeal sooner because he did not know that the trial court had signed the order

denying his motion. In a criminal case, being unaware that the order has been

signed does not excuse the untimely filing of the notice of appeal. Ex parte

Matthews, 452 S.W.3d 8, 11 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2014, no pet.). When a

notice of appeal is filed late in a criminal case, we must dismiss the appeal. Slaton

v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998). Accordingly, the appeal is

dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

      APPEAL DISMISSED.

                                             ________________________________
                                                   STEVE McKEITHEN
                                                       Chief Justice

Submitted on August 30, 2016
Opinion Delivered August 31, 2016
Do Not Publish

Before McKeithen, C.J., Horton and Johnson, JJ.

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