Cayla McVay v. State

In The
Court of Appeals
Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana
No. 06-20-00094-CR
CAYLA MCVAY, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 5th District Court
Bowie County, Texas
Trial Court No. 19F1132-005
Before Morriss, C.J., Burgess and Stevens, JJ.
Memorandum Opinion by Justice Stevens
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Cayla McVay has filed an untimely notice of appeal from a conviction of the third-degree
felony offense of possession of a controlled substance and the resulting ten-year sentence.1 We
dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.
The judgment of conviction in this matter indicates that McVay’s sentence was imposed
on April 16, 2020, and that her notice of appeal was filed on August 12, 2020. There is nothing
in the appellate record to indicate that McVay filed a motion for new trial. In the absence of a
timely motion for new trial, McVay, to perfect her appeal, was required to file her notice of
appeal within thirty days of the date sentence was imposed, or on or before May 18, 2020. See
TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a)(1). The notice of appeal, therefore, was untimely.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has expressly held that, without a timely filed
notice of appeal, we cannot exercise jurisdiction over an appeal. See Olivo v. State, 918 S.W.2d
519, 522 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996); see also Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 209 n.3 (Tex. Crim.
App. 1998) (per curiam).
We notified McVay by letter that her notice of appeal appeared to be untimely and that
the appeal was subject to dismissal for want of jurisdiction. We gave McVay ten days to respond
to our letter and to demonstrate how we had jurisdiction over the appeal notwithstanding the
noted defect. Counsel for McVay filed a response indicating that McVay filed her pro se notice
of appeal in error, as she had previously waived her right of appeal pursuant to the terms of a
plea bargain. As a result, McVay concedes that this case is subject to dismissal.
1
See TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. § 481.115(c).
2
Because McVay has not timely perfected her appeal and has otherwise waived her right
of appeal pursuant to a plea bargain, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.
Scott Stevens
Justice
Date Submitted: October 1, 2020
Date Decided: October 2, 2020
Do Not Publish
3