ACCEPTED
01-15-00416-CR
FIRST COURT OF APPEALS
HOUSTON, TEXAS
12/21/2015 11:06:48 AM
CHRISTOPHER PRINE
CLERK
No. 01-15-00416-CR, No. 01-15-00417-CR, No. 01-15-00418-CR
In the FILED IN
1st COURT OF APPEALS
Court of Appeals HOUSTON, TEXAS
For the 12/21/2015 11:06:48 AM
First District of Texas CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE
Clerk
At Houston
No. 1353154, 1443321, 1443322
In the 228th District Court
Of Harris County, Texas
TRAVIS MARCELLAUS EDWARDS
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 Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 2 and
10.5, moves for an extension of time in which to file its appellate brief. The
following facts are relevant:
1. The appellant was indicted for aggravated assault, aggravated
robbery, and as a felon in possession of a firearm. Appellant pled not
guilty, but a jury convicted him of all three offense, and the trial court
sentenced him to 30 years on the aggravated assault and aggravated
robbery, and 10 years on the possession of the weapon. Appellant
filed timely notice of appeal.
2. Appellant filed an appellate brief on November 24, 2015.
3. The State’s appellate brief is due on December 28, 2015.
4. This is the State’s first request for an extension in this case.
5. The State requests an extension of time in which to file its brief, and
the undersigned attorney believes that a brief will be filed on or
before February 22, 2016. The undersigned requests a lengthier than
usual extension for the reasons addressed below, and in hopes of
avoiding any further extension requests.
6. The following facts are relied upon to show good cause for an
extension of time to allow the State to file its brief:
a. At present, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office
employees 15 appellate prosecutors, but one on maternity leave
and has no caseload, and another was recently hired and is
currently handling a less intensive caseload as she transitions
from acting as a trial prosecutor to working as an appellate
prosecutor. Moreover, the Division Chief is unable to carry a
full case load because of his administrative duties. Accordingly,
the remaining members of the appellate division are currently
assigned a caseload of approximately 68 active cases resulting
in an average of 5.2 briefs per prosecutor.
b. The attorney to whom this case is assigned has four
outstanding briefs including this one.
c. In the last 30 days the undersigned filed the following brief:
Glover v. State, No. 14-15-00082-CR, Hurd v. State, No. 14-
1500343-CR, Williams v. State, No. 14-15-00220-CR and In re
N.T., No. 01-15-00970-CV. She will file a brief in Jones v. State,
No. 01-15-00488-CR tomorrow. And she must begin and
complete work on Cervantes v. State, No. 01-14-00875-CR
before she can begin work on this brief.
d. The workload of this prosecutor is not out of the ordinary in
the appellate division of the Harris County District Attorney’s
Office.
e. In addition to its assignments in responding to appellate briefs,
the appellate division of the Harris County District Attorney’s
Office also answers questions from trial prosecutors. These
questions frequently occur in the middle of or immediately
before trial, and therefore other work must be put aside to
answer these pressing questions. Harris County has 25
Criminal District Courts and 15 County Criminal Courts at Law,
and this particular prosecutor is tasked with answering
questions related to Texas Code of Criminal Procedure article
39.14 regarding discovery changes, is one of two prosecutors
tasked with answering any juvenile law related questions, and
answers questions from five felony courts, and the three
juvenile courts.
f. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office Appellate Division
is experiencing a significant workload at present. Appellate
prosecutors, including the undersigned attorney, are working as
quickly as possible to complete as many briefs as possible while
still addressing all the issues raised by appellants, as thoroughly
as necessary to see that justice is done on each appeal. Because
of the high workload per prosecutor, as well as the greater
length and complexity of appeals being brought in this county, it
often takes longer to process all of the assigned cases, and more
cases require multiple extensions, or in this case a more lengthy
extension, before the completion of the State’s brief.
WHEREFORE, the State prays that this Court will grant the requested
extension until February 22, 2016.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Jessica A. Caird
JESSICA A. CAIRD
Assistant District Attorney
Harris County, Texas
1201 Franklin, Suite 600
Houston, Texas 77002-1923
(713) 274-5826
caird_jessica@dao.hctx.net
TBC No. 24000608
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I certify that I have requested that efile.txcourts.gov electronically serve a
copy of this motion to:
Daucie Schindler
Assistant Public Defender
1201 Franklin, 13th Floor
Houston, TX 77002
Daucie.schindler@pdo.hctx.net
/s/ Jessica A. Caird
Jessica A. Caird
Assistant District Attorney
Harris County, Texas
1201 Franklin, Suite 600
Houston, Texas 77002-1923
(713) 274-5826
caird_jessica@dao.hctx.net
TBC No. 24000608
Date: December 21, 2015