TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN
NO. 03-14-00411-CR
Manuel Ruiz Constancio, Appellant
v.
The State of Texas, Appellee
FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF TOM GREEN COUNTY, 51ST JUDICIAL DISTRICT
NO. A-11-0535-S, HONORABLE JAY K. WEATHERBY, JUDGE PRESIDING
ORDER
PER CURIAM
Manuel Ruiz Constancio filed his notice of appeal on May 27, 2014, and his
brief was due December 24, 2014, but was never filed. After Constancio’s appointed counsel,
Shawntell McKillop, failed to respond to this Court’s overdue-brief notice, we abated the appeal
for a hearing before the district court. Constancio v. State, No. 03-14-00411-CR, 2015 Tex. App.
LEXIS 2821, at *1 (Tex. App.—Austin Mar. 26, 2015, no pet.) (mem. op.). At the hearing on
April 17, 2015, McKillop represented to the court that she was working on an Anders brief for this
appeal and needed “another two to three weeks at the most.”
Two months later, after the brief had not been filed and McKillop had failed
to respond to another overdue-brief notice, we abated the appeal again and asked the district court
to determine, among other things, whether McKillop abandoned this appeal and new counsel
should be appointed for Constancio. See Tex. R. App. P. 37.3(a)(2), 38.8(b)(2). At the hearing on
Thursday, July 16, 2015, McKillop told the court that the brief was complete and she would file it
on Monday [July 20, 2015].1 She did not.
We order Shawntell McKillop to file appellant’s brief on or before August 21, 2015.
If the brief is not filed by that date, counsel may be required to show cause why she should not be
held in contempt of court.
It is ordered on August 14, 2015.
Before Chief Justice Rose, Justices Pemberton and Field
Do Not Publish
1
McKillop stated, “Judge, the brief is done. The only thing I have left to do is the Motion
to Withdraw and the Anders letter to my client and copy the file. So I should have it in the mail by
Monday because I have to finish that out this weekend because it takes me a while to get all of
that done.”
2