Court Opinion

ID: 9965675
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-05-03 07:13:06.576722+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:25:33.042843
License: Public Domain

In The

                               Court of Appeals

                    Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

                              __________________

                              NO. 09-24-00058-CR
                              __________________

                LAWRENCE PAUL DAVENPORT, Appellant

                                        V.

                       THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

__________________________________________________________________

                On Appeal from the 435th District Court
                     Montgomery County, Texas
                   Trial Cause No. 20-02-02517-CR
__________________________________________________________________

                          MEMORANDUM OPINION

      The trial court sentenced Lawrence Paul Davenport on October 10, 2023.

Davenport did not file a motion for new trial within 30 days after the date in which

the trial court imposed sentence. See Tex. R. App. P. 21.4(a). Notice of appeal was

due to be filed on November 9, 2023. Davenport’s time for filing a motion for

extension of time to perfect his appeal expired on November 27, 2023. On December

19, 2023, the District Clerk received and filed a pro se notice of appeal dated

December 13, 2023. On February 21, 2024, the Clerk of the Court notified the parties

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that the notice of appeal has been filed outside the time for which an extension of

time may be granted for filing notice of appeal, and warned the parties that the appeal

would be dismissed unless grounds were shown for continuing the appeal.

Davenport, through his appointed appellate counsel, obtained additional time to

respond to the Clerk’s notice, but Davenport did not file a response that identifies a

valid basis for this Court to exercise appellate jurisdiction over his appeal.

       When a defendant appeals from a conviction in a criminal case, the time to

file a notice of appeal runs from the date sentence is imposed or suspended in open

court. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a). An appellate court may 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 a notice of appeal in the trial court and files a motion for extension

of time in the appellate court. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.3. Davenport failed to file a

notice of appeal and a motion for an extension of time within the time permitted by

the rule. See id.

       “Timely filing of a written notice of appeal is a jurisdictional prerequisite to

hearing an appeal.” Castillo v. State, 369 S.W.3d 196, 198 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012).

“If a notice of appeal is not timely filed, the court of appeals has no option but to

dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.” Id. Davenport does not argue that he

obtained an out-of-time appeal from the Court of Criminal Appeals. We dismiss the

appeal for lack of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 43.2(f).

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      APPEAL DISMISSED.

                                                PER CURIAM

Submitted on April 30, 2024
Opinion Delivered May 1, 2024
Do Not Publish

Before Golemon, C.J., Johnson and Wright, JJ.

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