Opinion
NO. 14-17-00112-CR
10-26-2017
JAIME GREEN, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 184th District Court Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 1444798
ORDER
Appellant is represented by appointed counsel, Melissa Martin. Appellant's brief was originally due June 19, 2017. On September 19, 2017, appellant's counsel requested an additional extension of time, but did not mention Hurricane Harvey as a ground for extension. Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas coast on August 25, 2017. On August 28, 2017, the Court of Criminal Appeals issued Misc. Docket No. 17-010, an emergency order directing all courts in Texas to consider disaster-related delays as good cause for modifying or suspending all deadlines in any case. Accordingly, considering the exceptional circumstances of the recent hurricane, despite the fact that appellant's counsel did not point to that circumstance, we granted an extension to file appellant's brief until October 18, 2017, with the notation that no further extensions would be granted absent exceptional circumstances. No brief was filed. The order of the Court of Criminal Appeals expired September 27, 2017. On October 19, 2017, appellant's counsel filed a further request for extension of time to file appellant's brief, noting the exceptional circumstance of Hurricane Harvey.
While we acknowledge the circumstances created by Hurricane Harvey, we note that in the third request for an extension appellant's counsel did not allege the hurricane as an exceptional circumstance. We grant the request for extension and order appellant's counsel Melissa Martin to file a brief with the clerk of this court on or before November 18, 2017. If counsel does not timely file appellant's brief as ordered, the court may issue an order abating the appeal and directing the trial court to conduct a hearing to determine the reason for the failure to file the brief and the consideration of sanctions, appointment of new counsel, or other appropriate relief.
PER CURIAM Panel consists of Chief Justice Frost and Justices Boyce and Jewell.