COURT OF APPEALS
SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS
FORT WORTH
NO. 02-13-00031-CR
Joe Frank Slater § From the 355th District Court
§ of Hood County (CR11885)
v. § February 21, 2013
§ Per Curiam
The State of Texas § (nfp)
JUDGMENT
This court has considered the record on appeal in this case and holds that
the appeal should be dismissed. It is ordered that the appeal is dismissed for
want of jurisdiction.
SECOND DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS
PER CURIAM
COURT OF APPEALS
SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS
FORT WORTH
NO. 02-13-00031-CR
JOE FRANK SLATER APPELLANT
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS STATE
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FROM THE 355TH DISTRICT COURT OF HOOD COUNTY
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MEMORANDUM OPINION1
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Appellant Joe Frank Slater was sentenced on March 8, 2012, to fifteen
years for making a false statement to obtain property or credit.2 The trial court
signed the judgment on March 16, 2012. We dismiss this attempted appeal for
want of jurisdiction.
1
See Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.
2
See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 32.32 (West 2011). The applicable
sentencing range in this case was increased from that of a state-jail felony to that
of a second-degree felony based on his prior offenses. See id. § 12.425(b)
(West Supp. 2012).
2
On December 3, 2012, Appellant filed in the trial court a pro se notice of
appeal. This court received Appellant’s notice of appeal on January 25, 2013.
Concerned that we did not have jurisdiction over Appellant’s attempted appeal,
we informed Appellant by letter on January 29, 2013, that this appeal was subject
to dismissal unless Appellant or any party showed grounds for continuing the
appeal on or before February 13, 2013. Appellant responded, but the response
does not show grounds on which this court may rely for continuing this appeal.
Jurisdiction is vested in this court by a timely filed notice of appeal. Slaton
v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998); Olivo v. State, 918
S.W.2d 519, 522 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996). A defendant’s notice of appeal is
timely if filed within thirty days after sentence is imposed or suspended in open
court, or after the day the trial court enters an appealable order, or within ninety
days after the day sentence is imposed or suspended in open court if the
defendant timely files a motion for new trial. Tex. R. App. P. 26.2. Appellant’s
notice of appeal was due no later than April 9, 2012, because he did not file a
motion for new trial. Because Appellant’s notice of appeal was not filed until
December 3, 2012, it does not invoke this court’s jurisdiction. Furthermore, this
court does not have authority to grant an out-of-time appeal. See Slaton, 981
S.W.2d at 210 (reasoning that if an appeal is not timely perfected, a court of
appeals has no jurisdiction to address the merits of the appeal and can take no
action other than to dismiss it). Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal for want of
jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a); 43.2(f); Olivo, 918 S.W.2d at 523.
3
PER CURIAM
PANEL: GARDNER, WALKER, and MCCOY, JJ.
DO NOT PUBLISH
Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b)
DELIVERED: February 21, 2013
4