Opinion
06-24-00066-CR
05-13-2024
ROBERT BUCHANAN AKA ROBERT CRAYTON, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
Do Not Publish
Date Submitted: May 10, 2024
On Appeal from the 115th District Court Upshur County, Texas Trial Court No. 19,314
Before Stevens, C.J., van Cleef and Rambin, JJ.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
SCOTT E. STEVENS, CHIEF JUSTICE
Robert Buchanan, also know as Robert Crayton, filed an untimely notice of appeal from his conviction of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and the resulting sentence of life in prison. We dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.
See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.02 (Supp.).
The judgment of conviction in this matter indicates that the trial court imposed Buchanan's sentence on December 8, 2022, and Buchanan did not file a motion for new trial. As a result, Buchanan's notice of appeal was due on or before January 9, 2023. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a)(1). Buchanan's notice of appeal was filed on April 17, 2024, well beyond the January 9, 2023, deadline. Consequently, Buchanan's attempt to appeal his conviction in this matter 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 Buchanan by letter that his notice of appeal appeared to be untimely and that the appeal was subject to dismissal for want of jurisdiction. We gave Buchanan ten days to respond to our letter and to demonstrate how we had jurisdiction over the appeal notwithstanding the noted defect. While Buchanan responded, through appointed counsel, to our jurisdictional defect letter, his response did not demonstrate how this Court has jurisdiction over this appeal.
Because Buchanan did not timely perfect his appeal, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.