Rodriguez, Raul

PD-0016-15 COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS PD-0016-15 AUSTIN, TEXAS Transmitted 1/1/2015 4:48:39 PM JANUARY 12, 2015 Accepted 1/12/2015 3:20:31 PM No. PD-_______ ABEL ACOSTA CLERK In the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas  No. 01-12-00688-CR In the First Court of Appeals of Texas  No. 1348372 In the 178th District Court Of Harris County, Texas  RAUL RODRIGUEZ Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS Appellee  STATE’S MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE PETITION FOR DISRETIONARY REVIEW  To the Honorable Court of Criminal Appeals: The State of Texas, pursuant to TEX. R. APP. P. 10.5 and 68.2, moves for an extension of time in which to file its petition for discretionary review. The following facts are relevant: 1 1. The appellant was indicted for murder. (CR 2). The appellant pled not guilty. (3 RR 300). A jury found him guilty as charged. (CR 2376, 2393). The jury assessed punishment at forty years’ confinement. (CR 2392, 2393). The trial court certified the appellant’s right of appeal, and the appellant filed a timely notice of appeal. (CR 2395, 2398). 2. The First Court of Appeals reversed the conviction in a published opinion and ordered that the appellant be remanded for a new trial. Rodriguez v. State, 01-12-00688-CR, 2014 WL 7205226 (Tex. App.— Houston [1st Dist.] Dec. 18, 2014, no. pet. h.) 3. The deadline for filing a petition for discretionary review is January 20, 2015. The State requests a 30-day extension of time in which to file its brief, giving a deadline of February 19, 2015. 4. This is the State’s first motion for extension in this case. 5. The following facts are relied upon to show good cause for an extension of time to allow the State to file its petition: a. The appellate record in this case is extraordinary for a non- capital case: The reporter’s record is 29 volumes, the appellant raised 22 points of error, the briefing of the parties contains more than 62,000 words, and the Court of Appeals’s opinion was released as a 39-page PDF. Writing a PDR for this case will take a considerable amount of time. 2 b. Since the Fourteenth Court released its second opinion in this case on December 18, 2014, the undersigned attorney has submitted two appellate briefs: 1. Rodney Wayne Allen No. 14-13-01030-CR Post-submission brief filed December 19, 2014 2. Shane Allen Mikel No. 01-14-00277-CR Brief filed December 31, 2014 c. The undersigned attorney was out of the office for the week of December 22-26 for Christmas celebrations and to plan and attend a memorial service for a family member. d. Prior to the due date in this case, the undersigned attorney has three briefs due in the local courts of appeals (which have already granted multiple extensions on two of these cases), another petition for discretionary review due in this Court (which has stated that no further motions for extension will be granted in that case), and an oral argument scheduled in a local court of appeals: 1. Brian Wei No. PD-1613-14 Petition due January 7, 2015 (1 extension already granted) 2. Octaviano Isralel Sanchez Nos. 14-14-00003-CR et seq. Oral argument set for January 8, 2015 3. Cedric Hopes No. 14-14-00403-CR Brief due January 14, 2015 (2 extensions already granted) 4. Jose Treto No. 14-14-00369-CR Brief due January 15, 2015 3 5. Eric Baumgart No. 01-14-00320-CR Brief due January 20, 2015 (2 extensions already granted) e. The undersigned attorney has one other case assigned to him for which the brief is due slightly after the current due date of this PDR. 1. Aaron Charles Burton Nos. 01-14-00513-CR & 01-14-00514-CR Brief due January 28, 2015 f. The undersigned attorney’s caseload — eight cases with active due dates — is consistent with that of other appellate prosecutors in the Harris County District Attorney’s office, thus offloading this work to others is not a realistic possibility. WHEREFORE, the State prays that this Court will grant the requested extension to February 19, 2015. Respectfully submitted, CLINTON A. MORGAN Assistant District Attorney Harris County, Texas 1201 Franklin, Suite 600 Houston, Texas 77002-1923 (713) 755-5826 morgan_clinton@dao.hctx.net TBC No. 24071454 4 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I certify that I have requested that efile.txcourts.gov electronically serve a copy of this motion to: Neal Davis NDavis@SDRFirm.com Jonathan Landers JLanders.law@gmail.com CLINTON A. MORGAN Assistant District Attorney Harris County, Texas 1201 Franklin, Suite 600 Houston, Texas 77002-1923 (713) 755-5826 morgan_clinton@dao.hctx.net TBC No. 24071454 Date: January 1, 2015 5