Gerald Glenn Nugent Jr. v. State

In The Court of Appeals Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont _________________ NO. 09-12-00048-CR _________________ GERALD GLENN NUGENT, JR., Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee ________________________________________________________________________ On Appeal from the 253rd District Court Liberty County, Texas Trial Cause No. CR28370 ________________________________________________________________________ ORDER The brief of the appellant was originally due on June 25, 2012. On November 29, 2012, we abated this appeal and remanded the case to the trial court for the purpose of determining why the brief of the appellant has not been filed and to determine whether appellant’s retained attorney, Scott Pawgan, has abandoned the appeal. In a hearing conducted on December 19, 2012, the trial court found that the appellant, Gerald Glenn Nugent, Jr., desires to appeal and that his retained counsel has not abandoned the appeal. At the hearing, counsel represented to the trial court that “everything’s prepared, ready to go” but claimed he could not file the brief due to the appeal being abated. The abatement 1 of an appeal for the limited purpose of determining why counsel failed to file a brief is no reason not to file the brief. The trial court shall conduct a hearing within twenty days of the date of this order. If at the hearing counsel fails to prove that he has prepared and filed with the Court of Appeals a brief together with a motion for leave to allow late filing of the brief, the trial court shall consider whether counsel has abandoned the appeal. If the trial court determines that counsel has abandoned the appeal by failing to file a brief with the Court of Appeals, the trial court shall immediately determine whether appellant is indigent and new counsel should be appointed for the appeal, or if the appellant is not indigent whether appellant requires additional time to retain new counsel or prepare a brief pro se. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 26.04(j)(2) (West Supp. 2012). The trial court shall prepare written findings and recommendations. A supplemental clerk’s record, containing any orders and findings of the trial court, together with a supplemental reporter’s record of the hearing here ordered, shall be filed on or before February 25, 2013. ORDER ENTERED January 24, 2013. PER CURIAM Before McKeithen, C.J., Kreger and Horton, JJ. 2