Court Opinion

ID: 9949605
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-12 10:09:40.385287+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:29:13.898299
License: Public Domain

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

                                      NO. 03-24-00047-CR

                                   Justin Amar Bell, Appellant

                                                v.

                                   The State of Texas, Appellee

             FROM THE 368TH DISTRICT COURT OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY
        NO. 20-0847-K368, THE HONORABLE RICK J. KENNON, JUDGE PRESIDING

                            MEMORANDUM OPINION

               Pursuant to a plea bargain, appellant Justin Amar Bell was convicted of

possession of a controlled substance in an amount of four grams or more but less than 200 grams.

See Tex. Health & Safety Code § 481.115(a), (d). On December 19, 2023, the trial court

sentenced him to seven years’ confinement but suspended the sentence and placed him on

probation for four years and 87 days. Bell has filed a notice of appeal from the denial of his

pretrial motion to suppress. Because the notice of appeal is untimely, we must dismiss the

appeal for want of jurisdiction.

               In criminal cases, a notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days after the day

sentence is imposed or suspended in open court or after the day the trial court enters an

appealable order. Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1). The period is extended to within 90 days after the

day sentence is imposed or suspended in open court if the defendant timely files a motion for
new trial. Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(2). An appellate court may also extend the time to file the

notice of appeal if, within 15 days after the deadline for filing the notice of appeal, the defendant

files in the trial court the notice of appeal and files in the appellate court a motion for extension

of time to file his notice of appeal. Tex. R. App. P. 26.3. However, in criminal cases, unlike in

civil cases, we cannot imply a motion for extension of time when a notice of appeal is filed

within fifteen days of the deadline. See Olivo v. State, 918 S.W.2d 519, 523 (Tex. Crim. App.

1996); Lair v. State, 321 S.W.3d 158, 159 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2010, pet. ref’d).

Cf. Verburgt v. Dorner, 959 S.W.2d 615, 617 (Tex. 1997) (holding that “a motion for extension

of time is necessarily implied when an appellant acting in good faith” files notice of appeal

“within the fifteen-day period in which the appellant would be entitled to move to extend the

filing deadline”).

               Because Bell did not file a motion for new trial, his notice of appeal was due on

January 18, 2024.     See Tex. R. App. P. 4.1(a).       It was filed electronically, however, on

January 19, 2024, one day after the statutory deadline. See Tex. R. App. P. 9.2(c). He did not

file a motion for extension of time. Consequently, his notice of appeal is untimely, and we have

no discretion to do anything other than dismiss the appeal. 1 See Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208,

210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998) (explaining that “[a] notice of appeal which complies with the

requirements of Tex. R. App. P. 26 is essential to vest the court of appeals with jurisdiction” and

that if appeal is not timely perfected, “a court of appeals does not obtain jurisdiction to address

the merits of the appeal” and “can take no action other than to dismiss the appeal”); see also

       1  The remedy for an untimely notice of appeal is to file an application for post-conviction
writ of habeas corpus returnable to the Court of Criminal Appeals for consideration of an
out-of-time appeal. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 11.072; Lucero v. State, No. 03-20-00064-CR,
2020 WL 938976, at *1 n.1 (Tex. App.—Austin Feb. 27, 2020, no pet.) (mem. op., not
designated for publication).
                                                 2
Castillo v. State, 369 S.W.3d 196, 202 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012) (noting that “one day is enough to

deprive the appellate court of jurisdiction to consider appellant’s appeal under the Texas Rules of

Appellate Procedure”).

               Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.

                                             __________________________________________
                                             Rosa Lopez Theofanis, Justice

Before Chief Justice Byrne, Justices Smith and Theofanis

Dismissed for Want of Jurisdiction

Filed: March 7, 2024

Do Not Publish

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