Opinion
13-24-00355-CR
08-01-2024
LUZALBERT HERNANDEZ, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.
Do not publish. Tex.R.App.P. 47.2(b).
ON APPEAL FROM THE 377TH DISTRICT COURT OF VICTORIA COUNTY, TEXAS
Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Tijerina and Peña
MEMORANDUM OPINION
JAIME TIJERINA JUSTICE
This cause is before the Court on appellant's motion for extension of time to file notice of appeal. On March 14, 2024, the trial court issued an order denying a motion for forensic testing. On July 17, 2024, pro se appellant filed a notice of appeal attempting to appeal the order. On July 17, 2024, the Clerk of this Court notified appellant that it appeared the appeal was not timely perfected in this matter. In response, appellant filed the motion now before the Court which asks the Court to extend the appellate timeline and to assert jurisdiction over the matter.
This Court's appellate jurisdiction in a criminal case is invoked by a timely filed notice of appeal. Olivo v. State, 918 S.W.2d 519, 522 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996). Absent a timely filed notice of appeal, a court of appeals does not have jurisdiction to address the merits of the appeal and can take no action other than to dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998). Appellant's notice of appeal is untimely. Accordingly, we lack jurisdiction over the appeal. See Slaton, 981 S.W.2d at 210.
The Court, having examined and fully considered the documents on file and appellant's failure to timely perfect this appeal, is of the opinion that the appeal should be dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Appellant may be entitled to an out-of-time appeal by filing a post-conviction writ of habeas corpus returnable to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals; however, the availability of that remedy is beyond the jurisdiction of this Court. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 11.07, § 3(a); see also Ex parte Garcia, 988 S.W.2d 240 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999). Accordingly, appellant's motion for extension of time to file notice of appeal is hereby denied, and the appeal is dismissed for want of jurisdiction.