In The
Court of Appeals
Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana
No. 06-12-00174-CR
STATE OF TEXAS, Appellant
V.
DAVID KENT SMITH, Appellee
On Appeal from the County Court at Law
Fannin County, Texas
Trial Court No. 40539
Before Morriss, C.J., Carter and Moseley, JJ.
ORDER
Susan E. Carter, counsel for David Kent Smith, has filed a motion to extend time to file
the appellee’s brief. The brief was due December 19, 2012.
In her motion, counsel does not provide the Court with a reasonable explanation of the
need for an extension of time, stating only that “counsel has been involved in complicated family
law cases that have involved extensive discovery and preparations.” This Court interprets Rule
10.5(b)(2) as requiring counsel to provide the Court with specific information to justify the
requested extension, including the cause numbers of other briefs filed, the dates they were filed,
the dates of trials, how long those trials are expected to last, etc. Generic statements do not
provide the required facts and are not adequate to meet the requirements of the rule. See TEX. R.
APP. P. 10.5(b)(2).
All future motions to extend time must contain case-specific information adequate to
justify the request, or they will be denied.
In this instance, we grant the motion for an extension, for a period of ten days, making
the brief now due December 29, 2012. Further requests for extensions will not be looked upon
with favor.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
BY THE COURT
Date: January 3, 2013
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