Opinion
06-24-00070-CR
12-12-2024
DAVID MICHAEL CALHOUN, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 235th District Court Cooke County, Texas Trial Court No. CR23-00333
Before Stevens, C.J., van Cleef and Rambin, JJ.
ORDER
Court reporter Teresa Ward recorded the trial court proceedings in appellate cause number 06-24-00070-CR, styled David Michael Calhoun v. The State of Texas, trial court cause number CR23-00333, in the 235th Judicial District Court of Cooke County, Texas. The reporter's record was originally due in this matter on July 16, 2024. That deadline was extended three times by this Court, on Ward's requests, resulting in a due date of October 7, 2024. Although we warned Ward that further extension requests would not be granted, she nonetheless filed a fourth request for an extension of the filing deadline, seeking an additional thirty-day extension of time. We denied Ward's request and ordered her to file the reporter's record by November 6, 2024. Despite our order, two days after the deadline established by that order, Ward filed a fifth request for extension of time, stating, "I am close, but not completely finished." She asked the Court for an additional fifteen days in which to complete the record.
As a result of Ward's refusal to follow a directive of this Court, we issued an order to show cause why Ward should not be held in contempt of court and punished for failing to timely file the record. The order directed Ward to show cause by twelve o'clock noon on November 20, 2024. The notice and order were transmitted by this Court to Chuck Owen, Cooke County Constable, Precinct 2, on November 14, 2024. On November 20, 2024, Owen filed an officer's return stating that on November 15, 2024, at 9:30 a.m., he delivered to Ward at her place of employment the original notice to show cause. On November 20, 2024, Ward filed a sworn affidavit stating the reasons she had been unable to complete the record in this case by November 20, 2024. In addition to transcribing and filing records in several other cases, Ward explained that she had been ill and that her home had been flooded due to a severe storm. Ward also asked the Court for an additional ten days in which to file the complete record.
On December 9, 2024, Ward filed volumes two through five of the fifteen-volume record. On December 10, she filed volumes six and seven.
Furthermore, the Honorable Janelle M. Haverkamp, the presiding judge of the 235th Judicial District Court, filed a sworn affidavit in support of Ward, stating that Ward had been in the midst of transcribing several other court records, that she had experienced exceptional personal situations that interfered with her ability to complete this record, and that Ward had informed her that she would have the record completed by December 2, 2024. To date, Ward has not filed the complete reporter's record in this case.
The Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure instruct that an "appellate court may enter any order necessary to ensure the timely filing of the appellate record." TEX. R. APP. P. 35.3(c).
We, therefore, abate this matter to the trial court to (1) conduct a hearing to determine why Ward did not file the reporter's record on or before December 2 as she indicated she would do in her affidavit attempting to avoid a contempt finding by this Court, (2) issue findings on whether Ward should be held in contempt of this Court for failing to file the complete reporter's record in this matter in contravention of our previous order and of her assurances to both this Court and the trial court that she would have the record completed on or before December 2, and (3) determine what action can be taken by this Court and/or the trial court to facilitate the filing of the complete reporter's record in the shortest time possible.
The hearing shall be held within five business days of the date of this order. The trial court's findings and recommendations on the issues set forth above shall be entered into the record of the case and presented to this Court in the form of a supplemental clerk's record within five days of the date of the hearing. A reporter other than Teresa Ward shall record the hearing and file the transcription of that hearing in this Court within five days of the date of the hearing.
All appellate timetables are stayed. Our jurisdiction over this matter will resume upon our receipt of the supplemental appellate record contemplated by this order.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
BY THE COURT