In The
Court of Appeals
Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont
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NO. 09-14-00228-CR
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GREGORY ALLEN DERUTTE, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
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On Appeal from the County Court at Law No. 3
Jefferson County, Texas
Trial Cause No. 287595
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MEMORANDUM OPINION
A jury found Gregory Allen DeRutte guilty of driving while intoxicated, and the
trial court sentenced him to one year of confinement and assessed a $2000 fine, then
suspended imposition of DeRutte’s sentence and placed DeRutte on community
supervision for two years. DeRutte filed a pro se notice of appeal. The court reporter filed
a notice stating that the reporter’s record was not filed because the reporter’s fee has not
been paid. After DeRutte failed to respond to this Court’s notices indicating that his brief
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was overdue, we abated the appeal and remanded the cause to the trial court for a hearing.
See Tex. R. App. P. 38.8(b)(2), (3).
The trial court held the hearing, and DeRutte failed to appear. Attached as exhibits
to the record of the hearing were the notice the clerk had sent to DeRutte and a copy of
the envelope in which it was mailed to DeRutte at his last known address. The trial court
found that DeRutte no longer wishes to move forward with his appeal.
DeRutte’s failure to file a brief constitutes abandonment of the appeal. See Parker
v. State, 69 S.W.3d 667, 678 (Tex. App.—Waco 2002, no pet.). DeRutte has not claimed
indigence and has failed to make arrangements for filing a brief. Accordingly, we
exercise our authority to consider this appeal without briefs. See Tex. R. App. P.
38.8(b)(4). We review the clerk’s record in the interest of justice. See Lott v. State, 874
S.W.2d 687, 688 (Tex. Crim. App. 1994); see Tex. R. App. P. 37.3(c). Our review of the
limited record presented does not justify reversal on unassigned error. We affirm the trial
court’s judgment.
AFFIRMED.
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STEVE McKEITHEN
Chief Justice
Submitted on March 31, 2015
Opinion Delivered April 1, 2015
Do Not Publish
Before McKeithen, C.J., Horton and Johnson, JJ.
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