Jose Pablo Lopez v. State ( 2015 )

ACCEPTED
01-15-00055-CR
FIRST COURT OF APPEALS
HOUSTON, TEXAS
7/29/2015 11:46:16 PM
CHRISTOPHER PRINE
CLERK
NO. 01-15-00055-CR
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FILED IN
1st COURT OF APPEALS
HOUSTON, TEXAS
FIRST DISTRICT OF TEXAS 7/29/2015 11:46:16 PM
CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE
AT HOUSTON Clerk
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NO. 01CR1330
IN THE 122ND DISTRICT COURT
OF GALVESTON COUNTY, TEXAS
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JOSE PABLO LOPEZ, APPELLANT
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE
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APPELLANT’S MOTION FOR THIRD EXTENSION
OF TIME TO FILE BRIEF OF APPELLANT
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Winston E. Cochran, Jr.
Attorney at Law
Texas Bar No. 04457300
P.O. Box 2945
League City, TX 77574
(713)228-0264
E-mail: winstoncochran@comcast.net
Counsel for Appellant,
Court-appointed on appeal.
TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS:
COMES NOW the appellant, Jose Pablo Lopez, through the undersigned court-
appointed counsel, and respectfully requests that this Court grant a third extension of
time for filing the appellant’s brief for five days, until Monday, August 3, 2015. As
grounds for this request, the appellant submits the following.
1. The appellant was indicted for Capital Murder, in violation of TEX.
PENAL CODE §19.03. In a long-delayed prosecution, the appellant was tried before
a jury, which found him guilty of Capital Murder. Punishment was assessed at
confinement for life in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional
Institutions Division. The appellant unsuccessfully sought a new trial in the district
court, and he timely appealed to this Court.
2. The appellant’s brief in this cause is due on July 29, 2015, pursuant to a
second extension. The extension order indicated that no further extension motions
would be entertained.
3. Due to exceptional circumstances, the appellant requests a third extension
of time to file his brief in this cause for five (5) days, until Monday, August 3, 2015.
4. The reasons for the requested extension of time are as follows:
A. The appellant’s counsel has put a great deal of work into the appellant’s
brief but, as the evening grows late on the present due date, it is clear that a brief
suitable for such a serious case cannot be completed in time for filing by midnight.
On the one hand, there is a fairly simple issue which ought to justify reversal, namely
a jury charge error, but other issues require much more lengthy discussion. They all
must be presented in the direct-appeal brief, lest they be procedurally defaulted.
Some of the arguments are reiterations of arguments made in other cases, but due to
the volume limit, those arguments have had to be trimmed. Pruning a brief, like
pruning a tree, can be a harder job than the original planting.
B. Over the past week the undersigned counsel also was occupied with a major
federal court project, namely assisting another attorney with motions challenging an
upcoming Hobbs Act prosecution, for which the United States District Court judge
also had set a deadline of today. If the undersigned counsel had known, at the time
of the request for the second extension in this cause, that there would be a competing
federal court deadline which was beyond counsel’s control, counsel would have asked
at that time for a filing extension on this brief until August 3 so as to avoid having
two highly important briefing projects due on the same day.
C. In addition, the undersigned counsel has worked on three other significant
appellate projects since the previous extension request, including: (1) preparation of
detailed pleadings for Pete Russell, Jr. v. William Stephens, Director, TDCJ-CID in
the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas; (2) assisting other
counsel with a thirty-page memorandum of law for a pretrial Fourth Amendment issue
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in a district court in Liberty County; and (3) preparation of an application under TEX.
CODE CRIM. PROC. Art. 11.07 in Ex parte Michael Ramirez.
5. The factual matters set forth within this motion are within the personal
knowledge of the undersigned attorney.
Wherefore the appellant prays that this motion be granted, that the time for
filing the appellant’s brief be extended until Monday, August 3, 2015.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Winston E. Cochran, Jr.
Winston E. Cochran, Jr.
Attorney at Law
Texas Bar No. 04457300
P.O. Box 2945
League City, TX 77574
(713)228-0264
E-mail: winstoncochran@comcast.net
Counsel for Appellant,
Court-appointed on appeal.
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I certify that a copy of this motion is being served in person on counsel for
the State at the following address when the courthouse opens on July 30, 2015:
Galveston County District Attorney’s Office
Appellate Division
Attention: Rebecca Klaren
600 59th Street
Galveston, TX 77551
/s/ Winston E. Cochran, Jr.
Counsel for Appellant
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