Court Opinion

ID: 9858277
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 16:19:30.93274+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:53:45.389741
License: Public Domain

BAIRD, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent to the majority’s conclusion that appellant’s motion for new trial was not timely filed.
The majority fails to address two pertinent cases which, if followed, establish appellant’s motion for new trial was timely filed. The case of Pacheco v. State, 757 S.W.2d 729 (Tex.Cr.App.1988), is directly on point. Pa-*582eheeo’s petition for discretionary was due to be filed on Monday, December 24, 1984. However, the clerk’s office of the El Paso Court of Appeals was closed on December 24, 25 and 26 and the petition was not filed until December 27,1984. The State contended the petition should be dismissed as untimely filed. We rejected that contention and considered the petition timely filed, holding it was impossible for Pacheco to file his petition because the clerk’s office was closed. Id. 757 S.W.2d at 729, n. 1. Pacheco did not cite the case relied upon by the majority, Martinez v. State, 511 S.W.2d 984 (Tex.Cr. App.1974). Consequently, one could argue that Pacheco sub silentio overruled Martinez. At the very least, there is an obvious conflict between these two cases which the majority fails to recognize and resolve.1
Further, the Texas Supreme Court addressed this issue in Miller Brewing Co. v. Villarreal, 829 S.W.2d 770 (Tex.1992), and held that a legal holiday included a day which the commissioners court in the county in which the case is pending has determined to be a holiday, or on which the clerk’s office for the court in which the case is pending is officially closed. Id. 829 S.W.2d at 772. The Court of Appeals relied on Miller in resolving the instant case, finding no reason to apply the rule differently in criminal cases than in civil cases. Mendez v. State, 892 S.W.2d 81, 82. In this vein, the majority has not convinced me there is a reason for a different construction.2 Rather, the majority’s conclusion is based entirely on Martinez which, as noted above, was sub silentio overruled by Pacheco.
The consequence of the majority’s action today is to deliver an opinion in direct conflict with Pacheco and Miller. The majority opinion will only serve to confuse the bench and bar and lead to further litigation. Although there may be instances where the interpretations of our rules will differ in a civil and a criminal context, this is not one of them. Consequently, I would interpret Tex. RApp.P. 5(a) consistent with Miller and hold a legal holiday includes a day on which the clerk’s office for the court in which the case is pending is officially closed.
With these comments, I respectfully dissent.

. In order to confront what he calls an "issue that the majority fails to address,” ante at 580, Judge Meyers discusses Pacheco and comes to the conclusion that it should be overruled. Ante at 581.

. In this regard, Judge Meyers believes we are not at liberty to ignore the legislature's definition of “legal holiday." Ante at 581. In the context of this case, the term "legal holiday" comes from Tex.R.App.P. 5(a) which does not refer to Gov. Code § 662.021 which provides Ae Legislature’s definition for legal holiday. We are not constrained to follow the Legislature's definition when interpreting our own rules. Luciano v. State, 906 S.W.2d 523, 525 (Tex.Cr.App. 1995) ("We are not bound by the definition of term found in codes or statutes when interpreting Aose terms in our own rules.”). Therefore, not-wiAstanding Judge Meyers' statement to the contrary, we are at liberty to ignore Ae Legislature’s definition of legal holiday, just as Ae Supreme Court Ad in Miller, supra.