PD-0483-1
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL
FILEDIN AUSTIN, TEXA
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS Transmitted 11/13/2015 9:40:30 Al
. _ ondC Accepted 11/13/2015 9:44:15 Al
November 13,2015 ^ .„. ArriQT
TO THE COURT OF CRIMINALAPPEALS ABEL A™I
CLER
ABEL ACOSTA. CLERK
No. PD-0483-15 . 7TT£
Ruben Totten
On appeal from the 230th
W^-VT
vs. District Court of Harris County
Trial Cause Number 1365961
COA#01-14-00189-CR
State of Texas
Appellant's Final Motion to Extend Time
to File Brief on the Merits
for One day—Brief Already Filed
To The Honorable Judges Of The Court Of Criminal Appeals:
COMES NOW, Ruben TOTTEN, and files this his Motion to Extend Time to File Brief
on the Merits, and in support thereof, would respectfully show the Court the following:
I.
Appellant's brief on the merits was due on November 10th. The brief was filed on
November 11th. One previous motion for extension has been filed.
II.
On the evening in which she was about to e-file the brief, counsel experienced a series
of frustrating computer errors which resulted in lost and un-updated files. Some of it
had to be retreived from other sources and some of it had to be recreated. This caused
the brief to be filed just after the deadline. Counsel apologizes for the unintentional
delay and for any inconvenience to this Honorable Court or to its very gracious Clerk's
office.
This motion is in accordance with Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 10.5(b) and
38.6(d)("A motion to extend the time to file a brief may be filed before or after the date
the brief is due.").
III.
Counsel additionally requests an extension due to the fact that our Appellate Division
is currently very understaffed as we are down to 6 attorneys from an original 10
attorneys. We are in the process of hiring additional attorneys. In the meantime,
Counsel is working an extensive amount of overtime and has filed 23 briefs for criminal
appellants so far this year, in addition to all of the client-centered duties such
representation entails.
Additionally, counsel is the PDO's "Intern and Career Development Coordinator" who
runs the office's intern program which requires daily attention and the FACT (Future
Appointed Counsel Training) Program implemented from a federal grant to oversee the
training of new lawyers. Counsel is also on the Board of Directors for the Harris
County Criminal Lawyers Association which requires some time although most of
those duties have recently had to be placed on the back-burner.
Counsel has been engaged in work in the Harris County Public Defender's Office on
many cases, include the following:
Lenin Lopet^ 01-13-01079-CR, reversed and set for rehearing in cause #1403196
Joseph Smith, 14-15-00625-CR
Darryle Robertson, 14-15-00132-CR
Hugo Pachas-Lunas, 01-14-00516-CR
Michael Davila, 01-15-00560-CR
Stephen Hopper, 14-15-00371-CR
Domingo Medina, 01-15-00575-CR
Kori Henegar, 14-15-00529-CR
Craig Beat, 01-12-00896-CR
Corey Nickerson, 01-15-00764-CR through 01-15-00766-CR
Emanuel Hayes, 1408364
Research and writing in preparation for several cases for the trial division of
the Harris County Public Defender's Office.
IV.
Appellant's attorney requests an extension of 1 day, until November 11, which is
necessary so that the brief can be thoroughly written and timely filed. This motion is
not made for the purpose of delay.
PRAYER
Wherefore, Premises Considered, Appellant prays that this Honorable Court
grants this requested extension of time to file the appellant's brief on the merits in the
above cause and extend the time for filing to November 11, 2015, the day on which the
brief was filed.
Respectfully submitted,
Alexander Bunin
Chief Public Defender
Harris County, Texas
/s/Sarah V.Wood
Sarah V. Wood
Assistant Public Defender
Harris County, Texas
Texas Bar Number 24048898
1201 Franklin, 13th Floor
Houston Texas 77002
713.368.0016 (phone)
713.368.9278 (fax)
Sarah.Wood@pdo.hctx.net
Certificate of Service
By my signature below, I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the above and
foregoing Appellant's Motion to Extend Time to File Brief on the Merits has been
served on the State Prosecuting Attorney and the District Attorney of Harris County,
Texas, via the e-file service.
/s/Sarah V Wood