Paul Michael Lopez v. State ( 2015 )

NUMBER 13-14-00202-CR
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG
____________________________________________________________
PAUL MICHAEL LOPEZ, Appellant,
v.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.
____________________________________________________________
On appeal from the 370th District Court
of Hidalgo County, Texas.
____________________________________________________________
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Chief Justice Valdez and Justices Rodriguez and Longoria
Memorandum Opinion Per Curiam
Appellant, Paul Michael Lopez, attempts to appeal from an order granting a writ
issued in trial court cause number CR-892-12-G in the 370th District Court of Hidalgo
County, Texas. We dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.
On June 3, 2013, appellant was convicted of possession of child pornography.
Appellant filed an application for writ of habeas corpus under article 11.072 of the Texas
Code of Criminal Procedure. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 11.072 (West Supp.
2014). On January 29, 2014, the trial court issued an order granting appellant’s request
for habeas corpus relief. Appellant filed a notice of appeal on March 13, 2014.
On April 2, 2014, the Clerk of this Court notified appellant that it appeared that the
appeal was not timely perfected and that the appeal would be dismissed if the defect was
not corrected within ten days from the date of receipt of the Court’s directive. Appellant
has not filed a response to the Court’s notice.
Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 26.2 provides that an appeal is perfected when
notice of appeal is filed within thirty days after the day sentence is imposed or suspended
in open court, or after the day the trial court enters an appealable order, unless a motion
for new trial is timely filed. TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a)(1). Where a timely motion for new
trial has been filed, notice of appeal shall be filed within ninety days after the sentence is
imposed or suspended in open court. TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a)(2). The time within which
to file the notice may be enlarged if, within fifteen days after the deadline for filing the
notice, the party files the notice of appeal and a motion complying with Rule 10.5(b) of
the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.3.
Appellant’s notice of appeal was due to have been filed within thirty days after the
trial court entered an appealable order on January 29, 2014. See TEX. R. APP. P.
26.2(a)(1). Appellant did not file his appeal until March 13, 2014.
This Court's appellate jurisdiction in a criminal case is invoked by a timely filed
notice of appeal. Olivo v. State, 918 S.W.2d 519, 522 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996). Absent
a timely filed notice of appeal, a court of appeals does not obtain jurisdiction to address
the merits of the appeal in a criminal case and can take no action other than to dismiss
2
the appeal for want of jurisdiction. Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App.
1998). Appellant may be entitled to an out-of-time appeal by filing a post-conviction writ
of habeas corpus returnable to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals; however, the
availability of that remedy is beyond the jurisdiction of this Court. See TEX. CODE CRIM.
PROC. ANN. art. 11.07, § 3(a) (West, Westlaw through 2013 3d C.S.); see also Ex parte
Garcia, 988 S.W.2d 240 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999).
The appeal is DISMISSED FOR WANT OF JURISDICTION.
PER CURIAM
Do not publish.
TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).
Delivered and filed the
28th day of May, 2015.
3