Billy R. Belgard v. State ( 2010 )

                                                         In The

                                                Court of Appeals

                        Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

                                                ______________________________

                                                             No. 06-09-00152-CR

                                                ______________________________

                                       BILLY R. BELGARD, Appellant

                                                                V.

                                     THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

                                       On Appeal from the 188th Judicial District Court

                                                             Gregg County, Texas

                                                          Trial Court No. 37,946-A

                                          Before Morriss, C.J., Carter and Moseley, JJ.

                                            Memorandum Opinion by Justice Moseley

                                                     MEMORANDUM OPINION

            A jury convicted Billy R. Belgard of one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child and assessed his punishment at fifty-four years’ imprisonment for the first count and twenty years’ imprisonment for the second count.^[1]  Belgard filed his notice of appeal August 5, 2009.

            This Court has now been informed that Belgard has died.

            The death of an appellant during the pendency of his appeal deprives this Court of jurisdiction.  Tex. R. App. P. 7.1(a)(2); Whitmire v. State, 943 S.W.2d 894 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997); Rheinlander v. State, 918 S.W.2d 527, 528 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996).

            Accordingly, we permanently abate this appeal.

                                                                        Bailey C. Moseley

                                                                        Justice

Date Submitted:          February 22, 2010

Date Decided:             February 23, 2010

Do Not Publish

---

^[1]This appeal is a companion appeal to cause number 06-09-00151-CR, in which Belgard was convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and was sentenced to life imprisonment.