Otis Justin Evans, III v. State

In The Court of Appeals Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana No. 06-17-00138-CR OTIS JUSTIN EVANS, III, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee On Appeal from the 8th District Court Franklin County, Texas Trial Court No. F9225 Before Morriss, C.J., Moseley and Burgess, JJ. ORDER The appellant, Otis Justin Evans, III, has filed a motion, through counsel, to extend the deadline for filing his brief in this matter. The brief was due November 8, 2017. In the motion, counsel does not provide the Court with any explanation, much less a reasonable one, of the need for an extension of time. This Court interprets Rule 10.5(b)(1) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure as requiring counsel to provide specific information to justify a requested extension, including the cause numbers of cases in which other briefs were filed; the dates they were filed; the dates, cause numbers, and courts of matters scheduled for trial; the exact dates of trial (if known); the expected duration of trial; etc. Broad, general statements do not provide the required facts and are not adequate to meet the requirements of the rule. See TEX. R. APP. P. 10.5(b)(1). All future motions to extend time must contain case-specific information adequate to justify the request, or they will be denied. In this instance, we grant Evans’ motion and extend the deadline for filing his brief by twenty-one days, making the brief now due November 29, 2017. Absent extraordinary circumstances, further requests for extensions of time will not be granted. IT IS SO ORDERED. BY THE COURT Date: November 21, 2017 2