PD-0571&0572-16 PD-0571&0572-16
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
AUSTIN, TEXAS
Transmitted 5/23/2016 10:11:28 PM
Accepted 5/24/2016 4:27:26 PM
ABEL ACOSTA
APPELLATE COURT CAUSE NUMBER 03—14—00088—CR CLERK
APPELLATE COURT CAUSE NUMBER 03—14—00408—CR
DARIUS DONTAE LOVINGS IN THE COURT OF
V. CRIMINAL APPEALS
STATE OF TEXAS STATE OF TEXAS
APPELLANT’S MOTION TO EXTEND TIME FOR FILING OF
PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW
TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS:
COMES NOW THE APPELLANT, by and through his appointed
attorney of record, Paul M. Evans, in the above entitled and numbered
causes, and moves this Court, to grant the Appellant’s Motion to Extend
Time for Filing of Petition for Discretionary Review, and, in support
thereof, would show the Court as follows:
I.
A Memorandum Opinion was issued by the Honorable Third Court of
Appeals in the instant causes on March 17, 2016. Motions for Rehearing
and Rehearing En Banc were overruled on April 22, 2016. By operation of
Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure §§ 4.1(a) and 68.2(a), the deadline to
file a Petition for Discretionary Review in the instant causes falls on this
date, May 23, 2016.
May 24, 2016
Pursuant to Rule § 68.2(a), this Court “may extend the time for filing
a petition for discretionary review if a party files a motion complying with
Rule § 10.5(b) no later than 15 days after the last day for filing the petition.”
The undersigned counsel shall forthwith respectfully request that the
deadlines for filing a Petition for Discretionary Review in the instant causes
be extended to 5:00 PM Central Standard Time on June 3, 2016.
The undersigned counsel hereby wishes to relay “the facts relied on to
reasonably explain the need for an extension.” See Rule § 10.5(b)(1)(C).
II.
The undersigned counsel’s best friend, Kenneth Lee Wagner, died at
the premature age of 44 years on April 28, 2016. Mr. Wagner had endured
49 agonizing days in an intensive care unit at the time of his demise. The
circumstances leading up to this event were tragic, and senseless, beyond
comprehension. Said event has taken an enormous toll on the undersigned
counsel, a solo practitioner with no support staff, and he has struggled to
maintain his practice as well as his composure in the wake of this “event,”
for lack of a better word. Said event has changed the course of the
undersigned counsel’s entire life, in every aspect and manner.
III.
The undersigned counsel is still quite affected by the events and
circumstances of the preceding months. “Traumatized” would be an
appropriate term to employ, yet it fails miserably to adequately describe
how the undersigned counsel feels. On the date of the filing of the instant
motion, at the request of Mr. Wagner’s mother, the undersigned counsel
made arrangements to have his obituary printed in the Austin American
Statesman on May 25, 2016. The undersigned counsel has hastily made
arrangements to attend Mr. Wagner’s funeral on May 28, 2016, in Camden,
North Carolina.
IV.
On March 1, 2016, the undersigned counsel had been appointed to a
client named Malique Jackson on a charge of Aggravated Robbery. On
April 22, 2016, the undersigned counsel was informed that the Travis
County District Attorney had indicted said charge as a Theft, Class B
misdemeanor, trial court Cause Number C-1-CR-16—400493. Said offense
was scheduled for a jury trial in Travis County Court at Law # 9 on the date
of the instant filing, May 23, 2016. The Travis County Attorney dismissed
the cause on this same date, after the undersigned counsel invested forty
hours of his time during the course of last week alone on trial preparation
and investigation of the underlying circumstances. Additionally, during this
same time frame, the undersigned counsel has put considerable time, effort,
and energy towards completion of an Appellant’s Brief in Robleto v. State
before the Honorable Third Court of Appeals, Cause Numbers 03—15—
00482—CR, 03—15—00483—CR, and 03—15—00484—CR, which is
due on June 1, 2016.
V.
In sum, the deadline in the instant cause fell directly into the “perfect
storm,” so to speak, at a point where the undersigned counsel’s powers of
concentration and ability to maintain his composure have been
compromised to a degree that the undersigned counsel has never personally
experienced. Without causing undue sacrifice—if not outright violence—to
the quality of representation to his other clients with pressing and urgent
circumstances of their own, the undersigned counsel can assert in good faith
that he could not have feasibly filed a presentable Petition for Discretionary
Review in the instant causes on the “de facto” deadline of May 23, 2016.
The undersigned counsel reluctantly begs this Honorable Court to grant its
indulgence and allow the applicable deadline to be extended to Friday, June
3, 2016.
VI.
This Motion is not made for purposes of delay, but so that justice
might be served.
WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, the Defendant
respectfully prays that this Court, upon good cause shown as cited above,
grant the Appellant’s Motion to Extend Time for Filing of Petition for
Discretionary Review, so that the deadline may be extended to 5:00 PM
Central Standard Time on Friday, June 3, 2016.
Respectfully submitted,
Law Office of Paul M. Evans
811 Nueces Street
Austin, Texas 78701
(512) 569-1418
(512) 551-1550 FAX
paulmatthewevans@hotmail.com
_/s/ Paul M. Evans________
PAUL M. EVANS
SBN 24038885
Attorney for Defendant
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the above and foregoing
was delivered by facsimile unto the office of the prosecuting attorney for the
State of Texas—the Travis County District Attorney, mailing address P.O.
Box 1748, Austin, TX, 78767, physical address 509 W. 11 th Street, Austin,
TX, 78701—on this the 23rd day of May, 2016.
I hereby further certify that a true and correct copy of the above and
foregoing was delivered by facsimile unto the State’s Prosecuting Attorney,
Lisa C. McMinn—mailing address P.O. Box 13046, Austin, TX, 78701-
3046, physical address 209 W. 14th Street, Austin, TX, 78701—on this the
23rd day of May, 2016.
_/s/ Paul M. Evans________
PAUL M. EVANS
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE
I hereby certify that the present document contains 1018 words, all
contents included.
_/s/ Paul M. Evans________
PAUL M. EVANS