April Suzanne Rhoten v. State ( 2009 )

In The Court of Appeals Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana ______________________________ No. 06-09-00025-CR ______________________________ APRIL SUZANNE RHOTEN, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee On Appeal from the 241st Judicial District Court Smith County, Texas Trial Court No. 241-0768-08 Before Morriss, C.J., Carter and Moseley, JJ. ORDER Austin Reeve Jackson, counsel for the appellant, has filed a motion to extend time to file the appellant's brief. The brief was due June 1, 2009. In his motion, counsel does not provide the Court with a reasonable explanation of the need for an extension of time, stating only that he had "been preparing the brief in this matter along with several other appeals" and that he was preparing for trial and listing three different cause numbers. This Court interprets Rule 10.5(b)(1) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure as requiring counsel to provide the Court with specific information to justify the requested extension, including the cause numbers of the other briefs filed, the dates they were filed, the dates of trials, how long those trials are expected to last, etc. Generic 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 the motion for an extension, for a period of thirty days from the original due date of the brief, making the brief now due July 1, 2009. No further requests will be looked on with favor. 2 IT IS SO ORDERED. BY THE COURT Date: June 9, 2009 3