Opinion
No. 02-20-00002-CR
02-20-2020
EDDIBERTO LOPEZ, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS
On Appeal from the 432nd District Court Tarrant County, Texas
Trial Court No. 1496518D Before Sudderth, C.J.; Gabriel and Kerr, JJ.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
On October 31, 2018, Appellant Eddiberto Lopez was convicted of engaging in organized crime. He did not file a motion for new trial. Over a year later, on January 2, 2020, he filed a pro se notice of appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1)-(2) (providing that when a motion for new trial is not timely filed, a criminal defendant must file a notice of appeal "within 30 days after the day sentence is imposed or suspended in open court, or after the day the trial court enters an appealable order").
On January 3, 2020, we sent Appellant a letter stating that because no motion for new trial had been filed in this case, his notice of appeal had been due November 30, 2018, and was thus untimely filed. See id. In light of this jurisdictional defect, we informed Appellant that unless he or any party desiring to continue the appeal filed a response showing grounds for continuing the appeal, we would dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.3.
Appellant filed a pro se response, but it does not show grounds for continuing the appeal. See Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998) (holding that if an appeal is not timely perfected, a court of appeals does not obtain jurisdiction to address the appeal's merits and may take no action other than to dismiss the appeal). Therefore, we dismiss the appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1), 43.2(f).
/s/ Bonnie Sudderth
Bonnie Sudderth
Chief Justice Do Not Publish
Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b) Delivered: February 20, 2020