James Willis Ben v. State

ACCEPTED 01-15-00096-cr FIRST COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS 5/19/2015 8:58:09 AM CHRISTOPHER PRINE CLERK No. 01-15-00096-CR In the Court of Appeals FILED IN 1st COURT OF APPEALS For the HOUSTON, TEXAS First District of Texas 5/19/2015 8:58:09 AM At Houston CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE  Clerk No. 1452387 In the 337th District Court Of Harris County, Texas  JAMES WILLIS BEN 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 the possession of more than four grams of cocaine committed on February 5, 2014 (CR – 9). He pled “not guilty” to the charge, and the case was tried to a jury (CR – 250). The jury found the appellant guilty and sentenced him to 35 years in prison on January 22, 2015 (CR – 250). The appellant filed notice of appeal that same day, and the trial court certified that he had the right to appeal (CR – 249, 253). 2. The State’s brief is due on May 20, 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 nearly 30 megabytes in length split over eight volumes and will take some time to process. b. The undersigned attorney researched and answered by email more than 50 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. c. The undersigned attorney has been involved in completing the following written appellate project since the appellant filed his brief: (1) In the Interest of B.D.S. v. The State of Texas No. 01-14-00762-CV Brief filed April 28, 2015 (2) Jose Vasquez v. The State of Texas No. PD-0078-15 Brief on PDR filed May 12, 2015 (3) Antonio Perez v. The State of Texas No. 01-12-01001-CR PDR filed May 12, 2015 (4) Johnathan Castaneda v. The State of Texas No. 01-14-00389-CR No. 01-14-00390-CR Brief filed May 18, 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: Thomas A. Martin Attorney at Law 1018 Preston, Suite 500 Houston, TX 77002-1824 tmartin@justice.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: May 19, 2015