In the
Court of Appeals
Second Appellate District of Texas
at Fort Worth
___________________________
No. 02-20-00002-CR
___________________________
EDDIBERTO LOPEZ, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS
On Appeal from the 432nd District Court
Tarrant County, Texas
Trial Court No. 1496518D
Before Sudderth, C.J.; Gabriel and Kerr, JJ.
Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Sudderth
MEMORANDUM OPINION
On October 31, 2018, Appellant Eddiberto Lopez was convicted of engaging
in organized crime. He did not file a motion for new trial. Over a year later, on
January 2, 2020, he filed a pro se notice of appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1)–(2)
(providing that when a motion for new trial is not timely filed, a criminal defendant
must file a notice of appeal “within 30 days after the day sentence is imposed or
suspended in open court, or after the day the trial court enters an appealable order”).
On January 3, 2020, we sent Appellant a letter stating that because no motion
for new trial had been filed in this case, his notice of appeal had been due November
30, 2018, and was thus untimely filed. See id. In light of this jurisdictional defect, we
informed Appellant that unless he or any party desiring to continue the appeal filed a
response showing grounds for continuing the appeal, we would dismiss the appeal for
want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.3.
Appellant filed a pro se response, but it does not show grounds for continuing
the appeal. See Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998) (holding
that if an appeal is not timely perfected, a court of appeals does not obtain jurisdiction
to address the appeal’s merits and may take no action other than to dismiss the
appeal). Therefore, we dismiss the appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1), 43.2(f).
/s/ Bonnie Sudderth
Bonnie Sudderth
Chief Justice
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Do Not Publish
Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b)
Delivered: February 20, 2020
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