Opinion
05-22-01079-CR
08-01-2023
DOMINIQUE KEVONTE CARTER, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the Criminal District Court No. 4 Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. F20-76742
ORDER
DENNISE GARCIA, JUSTICE
We REINSTATE this appeal.
Before this Court is Appellant's July 28, 2023 appearance of counsel notice. The appearance of counsel reflects that Appellant is represented by attorney Julie Jones Woods in the Dallas County Public Defender's office. Attached to the notice is the trial court's July 27, 2023 Findings and Recommendations issued in response to this Court's July 24, 2023 Order instructing the trial court to conduct a hearing to determine why Appellant's attorney, Paul Johnson, had not filed Appellant's brief. This Court abated the case to the trial court to find out why Mr. Johnson had not filed Appellant's brief despite multiple orders over four months for him to do so.
The trial court's Findings and Recommendations reflect that it had never appointed Mr. Johnson to represent Appellant on appeal and that it had appointed the Dallas County Public Defender's office to represent Appellant in September 2022. Further, the trial court's Findings reflect that the Dallas County Public Defender's office never received notification that it had been appointed to represent Appellant in this matter and that the office has not abandoned the appeal. The trial court recommended that Ms. Woods be given sixty days to draft and file Appellant's brief in this Court. We adopt the trial court's findings and recommendation.
We DIRECT the Clerk of this Court to remove Mr. Johnson as counsel for Appellant and substitute attorney Julie Jones Woods.
Further, this Court ORDERS Appellant's brief filed on or before SEPTEMBER 29, 2023. Because of the length of the extension, future extensions will not be granted absent a showing of extraordinary circumstances.