Rueben Justin Trejo v. the State of Texas ( 2022 )

Fourth Court of Appeals San Antonio, Texas October 4, 2022 No. 04-21-00570-CR Rueben Justin TREJO, Appellant v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee From the 144th Judicial District Court, Bexar County, Texas Trial Court No. 2019-CR-9333 Honorable Michael E. Mery, Judge Presiding ORDER Appellant’s brief was originally due on May 18, 2022 and was not filed. We granted appellant’s first three motions for extension of time, extending the deadline for filing the brief until September 14, 2022. In our August 16, 2022 order granting the third motion for extension of time, we cautioned appellant that no further extensions would be granted and that if the brief was not filed by September 14, 2022, we would abate the appeal and remand the cause to the trial court for a hearing to determine whether appellant or appointed counsel had abandoned the appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.8(b)(2). On September 13, 2022, appellant filed a fourth motion for extension of time. In accordance with our August 16, 2022 order, we abated the appeal and remanded the cause to the trial court for an abandonment hearing. During the September 28, 2022 abandonment hearing, the trial court found that appellant desired to prosecute the appeal, that he was indigent, and that appointed counsel had not abandoned the appeal. On October 3, 2022, appellant filed his brief in this court. We therefore LIFT the abatement and REINSTATE this appeal to our docket. We ORDER appellee to file its brief by November 2, 2022. _________________________________ Beth Watkins, Justice IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the said court on this 4th day of October, 2022. ___________________________________ MICHAEL A. CRUZ, Clerk of Court