Jesus MacHuca v. State ( 2003 )

COURT OF APPEALS

COURT OF APPEALS

EIGHTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

EL PASO, TEXAS

JESUS MACHUCA,                             Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS,                             Appellee.

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No. 08-03-00189-CR Appeal from the 243rd District Court of El Paso County, Texas (TC#20020D06159)

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Jesus Machuca pleaded guilty to forgery of a financial instrument and theft, and the court sentenced him to two years in state jail.  Machuca filed a notice of appeal.  On June 18, 2003, we notified Machuca=s counsel that the notice of appeal is defective because it does not contain the trial court=s certification of Machuca=s right of appeal.  See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(a)(2), (d).  We informed counsel that he must remedy this defect by filing an amended notice of appeal in this Court within thirty days, i.e., no later than July 18, 2003.  We also informed counsel that if the amended notice of appeal was not filed, the appeal would be dismissed.  More than thirty days have passed, and we have not received the amended notice of appeal.^[1]

The appeal is dismissed.  See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(d) (AThe appeal must be dismissed if a certification that shows the defendant has the right of appeal has not been made part of the record . . . .@).

SUSAN LARSEN, Justice

August 14, 2003

Before Panel No. 1

Larsen, McClure, and Chew, JJ.

(Do Not Publish)

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^[1]We note that the trial court purported to grant counsel=s motion to withdraw at a hearing conducted on July 17, 2003.  Counsel has not filed a motion to withdraw in this Court.  See Tex. R. App. P. 6.5.  Accordingly, we still consider Mr. Robert Duran to be Machuca=s appellate counsel.  We expect Mr. Duran to take appropriate steps to ensure that Machuca=s rights to file a motion for rehearing and petition for discretionary review are protected.