ACCEPTED
01-14-00229-CR
FIRST COURT OF APPEALS
HOUSTON, TEXAS
1/9/2015 8:50:06 AM
CHRISTOPHER PRINE
CLERK
No. 01-14-00229-CR
In the
Court of Appeals FILED IN
1st COURT OF APPEALS
For the HOUSTON, TEXAS
First District of Texas 1/9/2015 8:50:06 AM
At Houston CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE
Clerk
No. 1415067
In the 338th District Court
Of Harris County, Texas
KELVIN LYNN O'BRIEN
Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS
Appellee
STATE’S MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE BRIEF
TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS:
THE STATE OF TEXAS, pursuant to TEX. R. APP. P. 2 & 10.5, moves for
an extension of time in which to file its appellate brief and in its motion, would
show the Court the following:
1. The appellant was charged with engaging in organized crime from
August 2007 through April 2013 (CR – 10). He pled “not guilty” to the
charge, and the case was tried to a jury (CR – 883). The jury found him
guilty, and the trial court thereafter assessed punishment at life in prison
on March 6, 2014 (CR – 883). The appellant filed notice of appeal the
same day, and the trial court certified that he had the right to appeal (CR
– 886-887).
2. The State’s brief is due on January 9, 2015. The State hereby requests a
30-day extension for the filing of the State’s brief.
3. The following facts are relied upon to show good cause for an extension
of time to allow the State to file its brief:
a. The record in this case is over 417 megabytes in length split over
34 volumes and will take an extraordinary amount of time to
process.
b. The undersigned attorney is responsible for screening every bill
filed in the Texas Legislature to determine its possible impact on
the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, and this task has
consumed a large amount of time since pre-filing started in the
Texas Legislature in November 2014.
c. The undersigned attorney researched and answered by email more
than fifty legal questions of trial prosecutors since the appellant
filed his brief. The undersigned attorney researched and answered
even more such questions by phone during that time period.
d. The undersigned attorney has been devoting a substantial amount
of time in abatement proceedings in the 339th District Court
pursuant to an abatement order in cause number 1327402. Such
abatement proceedings involved the collection of evidence from
witnesses, numerous hearings before the trial court on the issues,
and the drafting of and argument over proposed findings of the
parties.
e. The undersigned attorney is responsible for supervising six other
appellate prosecutors, and has spent a substantial amount of time
reviewing the briefs of those prosecutors, attending their oral
arguments, and assisting in the preparation of both during that time
period. The undersigned attorney has also been responsible for
training a new appellate prosecutor, which requires more intense
supervision and editing, and therefore, more of a time
commitment.
f. The undersigned attorney has been involved in completing the
following written appellate project since the appellant filed his
brief:
(1) Cody Carr v. The State of Texas
No. 14-14-00087-CR
Brief filed December 22, 2014
(2) Greg Saldinger v. The State of Texas
No. 14-14-00402-CR
Brief filed December 24, 2014
(3) Stephen Webb v. The State of Texas
No. 01-14-00174-CR
Brief filed January 5, 2015
(4) Kelvin O’Brien v. The State of Texas
No. 01-14-00229-CR
Brief due January 9, 2015
(5) Antonio Perez v. The State of Texas
No. 01-12-01001-CR
Supplemental briefing requested by First Court of
Appeals due January 12, 2015
(6) Bobby Peyronel v. The State of Texas
No. 01-13-00198-CR
Brief on PDR due January 16, 2015
(7) Brogan Melchior v. The State of Texas
No. 14-14-00454-CR
Brief due January 16, 2015
(8) Jose Vasquez v. The State of Texas
No. 14-12-00096-CR
PDR due January 22, 2015
(9) Alex Gonzalez v. The State of Texas
No. 01-14-00434-CR
Brief to be filed January 30, 2015
WHEREFORE, the State prays that this Court will grant the requested extension.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Eric Kugler
ERIC KUGLER
Assistant District Attorney
Harris County, Texas
1201 Franklin, Suite 600
Houston, Texas 77002-1923
(713) 755-5826
Kugler_eric@dao.hctx.net
TBC No. 796910
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
This is to certify that a copy of the foregoing instrument will be served by
efile.txcourts.gov to:
Kyle Sampson
Attorney at Law
917 Franklin, Suite 310
Houston, Texas 77002
kyle@kylesampsonlaw.com
/s/ Eric Kugler
ERIC KUGLER
Assistant District Attorney
Harris County, Texas
1201 Franklin, Suite 600
Houston, Texas 77002-1923
(713) 755-5826
TBC No. 796910
Date: January 9, 2015
Kelvin Lynn O'Brien v. State
Combined Opinion