Joe Christopher Zepeda v. the State of Texas ( 2022 )

In The
Court of Appeals
Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo
Nos. 07-22-00070-CR
07-22-00071-CR
07-22-00072-CR
JOE CHRISTOPHER ZEPEDA, APPELLANT
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE
On Appeal from the 222nd District Court
Deaf Smith County, Texas
Trial Court No. CR-14C-036, CR-13K-116, CR-13K-122, Honorable Roland D. Saul, Presiding
April 27, 2022
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before QUINN, C.J., and PIRTLE and DOSS, JJ.
Appellant Joe Christopher Zepeda, proceeding pro se, appeals his convictions for
assault1 and failure to stop and render aid following a traffic accident.2 Appellant was
sentenced to fourteen years’ confinement for each offense on November 3, 2016.
Because no motion for new trial was filed, Appellant’s notice of appeal was due within
1 See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.01.
2 See TEX. TRANSP. CODE ANN. § 550.021.
thirty days after sentenced was imposed, by December 5, 2016. See TEX. R. APP. P.
4.1(a), 26.2(a) (requiring a notice of appeal to be filed within thirty days after sentence is
imposed or within ninety days if the defendant timely files a motion for new trial).
Appellant did not file a notice of appeal until March 14, 2022.
The timely filing of a written notice of appeal is a jurisdictional prerequisite to
hearing an appeal. Castillo v. State, 369 S.W.3d 196, 198 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012). If a
notice of appeal is not timely filed, we have no option but to dismiss the appeal for want
of jurisdiction. Id. By letter of March 15, 2022, we notified Appellant of the consequences
of his late notice of appeal and directed him to show how we have jurisdiction over the
appeals. Appellant has filed a response but failed to demonstrate grounds for continuing
the appeals.
For these reasons, we dismiss the untimely appeals for want of jurisdiction.3
Per Curiam
Do not publish.
3 Appellant may be entitled to habeas relief by filing an application for writ of habeas corpus with
the clerk of the court in which the convictions being challenged were obtained, returnable to the Court of
Criminal Appeals. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 11.07.
2