Court Opinion

ID: 9406709
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-03 10:08:35.584452+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:32.695370
License: Public Domain

In the
        Court of Appeals
Second Appellate District of Texas
         at Fort Worth
     ___________________________
          No. 02-23-00154-CV
     ___________________________

 $1,709.00 IN U.S. CURRENCY, Appellant

                    V.

    THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from Criminal District Court No. 4
           Tarrant County, Texas
         Trial Court No. S-14605

  Before Birdwell, Bassel, and Womack, JJ.
    Per Curiam Memorandum Opinion
                            MEMORANDUM OPINION

       Appellant Derek Phillips attempts to appeal the default judgment against his

interest in $1,709.00 in U.S. Currency. The State of Texas filed a notice of seizure and

intended forfeiture of the money on June 30, 2020. Phillips was served with the notice

on July 14, 2020. On August 11, 2020, the trial court found that Phillips had failed to

answer or appear and entered a default judgment ordering the forfeiture of the

money. No postjudgment motions were filed to extend the appellate deadline, so

Phillip’s notice of appeal was due September 10, 2020. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.1.

Phillips did not file his notice of appeal until May 5, 2023.

       By letter dated May 9, 2023, we notified Phillips of our concern that we may not

have jurisdiction over this appeal because the notice of appeal was not timely filed. See id.;

see also In re D.A., No. 02-15-00346-CV, 2015 WL 9244637, at *1 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth

Dec. 17, 2015, no pet.) (mem. op.) (“The time for filing a notice of appeal is jurisdictional

in this court, and absent a timely[ ]filed notice of appeal or extension request, we must

dismiss the appeal.”). We warned him that this appeal could be dismissed for want of

jurisdiction unless we received a response showing grounds for continuing the appeal by

May 19, 2023. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.3. We received no response.

       Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P.

42.3(a), 43.2(f).

                                                         Per Curiam

Delivered: June 29, 2023

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