Opinion
No. 05-16-01046-CR
02-01-2018
JOE ALEJANDRO SANTILLANA, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the Criminal District Court No. 2 Dallas County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. F14-12813-H
ORDER
We REINSTATE this appeal.
Appellant's notice of appeal was filed September 1, 2016. Although appellant was originally appointed counsel to represent him, attorney Kristin Brown notified the Court that she had been retained to represent appellant. The record was filed, and appellant's brief was originally due January 20, 2017. The Court granted three motions to extend time to file the brief. In the final order, we cautioned Ms. Brown that the failure to file a brief by the date designated would result in the appeal being abated for a hearing. When a brief was not filed, we issued an order dated June 1, 2017, abating the case for a hearing in the trial court to determine why appellant's brief had not been filed.
When we did not receive notification of a hearing or any findings from the trial court, we sent a letter, dated July 31, 2017, to the trial court inquiring about the status of the appeal. We enclosed a copy of our June 1 order for the trial court's convenience. We did not receive any response from the trial court. We then sent a second status letter, dated September 15, 2017, and again enclosed a copy of our June 1 order. We did not receive a response from the trial court. We contacted the trial court by telephone to inquire about the status of the hearing and the brief and was told that the trial court had not received our June 1 order or the two letters inquiring about the status of the hearing. We resent the June 1 order and copies of the two letters.
Approximately one month later, we again contacted the trial court by telephone at which time we were told that the trial court had set a hearing for January 4, 2018. That hearing was reset twice, first to January 18, then to January 31 at 9:00 a.m. During the early afternoon of January 31, we contacted the trial court by telephone and asked about the hearing. The trial court coordinator told us she was not aware of any hearing being held. The trial court has failed to comply with this Court's June 1 order, and retained counsel has failed to file a brief or otherwise communicate with the Court regarding the status of the brief.
We therefore ORDER retained counsel Kristin Brown to file appellant's brief BY 5:00 P.M. ON FEBRUARY 20, 2018. Ms. Brown is cautioned that the Court will not entertain any further motions from her for any extensions of time in this case. If Ms. Brown does not file a brief by February 20, 2018, the Court will initiate contempt proceedings against her for the failure and refusal to obey the Court's order. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.8(b)(4). The Court may also take such other actions as may be appropriate, including filing a grievance against Ms. Kristin Brown and referring this matter to the State Bar of Texas Commission for Lawyer Discipline for further proceedings.
We DIRECT the Clerk of the Court to send a copy of this order to Kristin Brown by certified mail at her address as shown in our records. We also DIRECT the Clerk to send a copy of this order to the Honorable Robert Burns, Presiding Judge, Criminal District Court No. 1; to the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, and to appellant Joe Alejandro Santillana, TDCJ #02086124, Bill Clements Unit, 9601 Spur 591, Amarillo, TX 79107-9606.
/s/ CAROLYN WRIGHT
CHIEF JUSTICE