Damarkice Demond Stepherson v. State ( 2015 )

ACCEPTED 14-15-00722-CR FOURTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS 12/25/2015 12:38:33 AM CHRISTOPHER PRINE CLERK No. 14-15-00722-CR DAMARKICE DEMOND STEPHERSON § IN THE FOURTEENTH FILED IN 14th COURT OF APPEALS § HOUSTON, TEXAS VS. § COURT OF APPEALS 12/28/2015 10:15:00 AM § CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE THE STATE OF TEXAS § OF TEXAS Clerk MOTION TO EXTEND TIME TO FILE APPELLANT’S BRIEF TO THE HONORABLE JUSTICES OF SAID COURT OF APPEALS: COMES NOW Damarkice Demond Stepherson, Appellant, by and though his undersigned attorney of record, and files this Motion to Extend Time to File Appellant’s brief herein, and as sufficient cause therefore shows the following facts within the personal knowledge of Appellant’s attorney: I. Appellant was indicted for the offense of murder. Appellant pled not guilty and proceeded to trial. The trial jury found Appellant guilty of the lesser-included offense of manslaughter, and the trial court subsequently sentenced him to serve 15 years in prison. Appellant filed timely written notice of appeal. II. On November 16, 2015, Appellant’s attorney received notice from this Court of Appeals that Appellant’s first motion to extend time to file Appellant’s brief was granted, making Appellant’s brief due on or before December 16, 2015. 1 III. Appellant’s attorney hereby requests that the due date for Appellant’s brief be extended by a period of 30 days until January 15, 2016. This is Appellant’s second request for an extension in this matter. IV. The facts relied upon to reasonably explain the need for the requested extension are as follows: Appellant’s attorney is a solo practitioner who had a full schedule of court appearances on various pending felony cases since December 1, 2015. In addition, during this same period Appellant’s attorney was involved in pre-trial preparations followed by two days of jury trial in one felony case, as well as in pre-trial preparations in two other pending felony trial cases and two pending felony pre- sentence investigation hearings. Further, Appellant’s attorney was involved in reviewing records and researching points of error in two other pending direct appeals. Given the foregoing facts, Appellant’s attorney did not have adequate time available to properly review the appellate record, fully research potential points of error, and draft and file an appropriate appellate brief on Appellant’s behalf by the current due date of December 16, 2015. 2 WHEREFORE, ALL PREMISES CONSIDERED, Appellant prays that this Honorable Court of Appeals will grant this motion and extend the time to file Appellant’s brief for a period of 30 days to January 15, 2016. Respectfully Submitted, /s/ Randall J. Ayers _________________________ Randall J. Ayers Attorney for Appellant State Bar #01465950 P.O. Box 1569 Houston, Texas 77251-1569 rjayerslaw@comcast.net (e-mail) 281-493-6333 (office) 281-493-9609 (fax) 3 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I certify that I served the foregoing motion on the District Attorney of Harris County, Texas, by sending a copy to Mr. Alan Curry, Chief of the Appellate Division, Harris County District Attorney’s Office, via electronic service to curry_alan@dao.hctx.net on December 25, 2015. /s/ Randall J. Ayers _________________________ Randall J. Ayers Attorney for Appellant State Bar #01465950 P.O. Box 1569 Houston, Texas 77251-1569 rjayerslaw@comcast.net (e-mail) 281-493-6333 (office) 281-493-9609 (fax) CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE Pursuant to the provisions of Rule 9(i)(3) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure I certify that this document contains 535 words. /s/ Randall J. Ayers _________________________ Randall J. Ayers Attorney for Appellant State Bar #01465950 P.O. Box 1569 Houston, Texas 77251-1569 rjayerslaw@comcast.net (e-mail) 281-493-6333 (office) 281-493-9609 (fax) 4