Opinion
No. 06-17-00094-CV
02-06-2018
IN THE INTEREST OF P.M.W. AND J.A.J., CHILDREN
On Appeal from the 196th District Court Hunt County, Texas
Trial Court No. 82557 Before Morriss, C.J., Moseley and Burgess, JJ. ORDER
K.T. appeals from the termination of her parental rights to her child, J.A.J. The clerk's record in this accelerated appeal was filed September 20, 2017, and the reporter's record was filed October 2, 2017, making K.T.'s brief originally due October 23, 2017. Following the grant of a motion for extension of time in which to file K.T.'s brief, K.T.'s counsel filed an Anders brief on November 15, 2017. After having conducted an independent investigation of the record, this Court determined that the record presented arguable appellate issues that merited briefing. Consequently, we abated this appeal to the trial court for the appointment of new appellate counsel to address the issues presented in our abatement order, as well as any other issues that warrant further development on appeal.
We refer to the children and their parents by their initials to protect the privacy of the children. See TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 109.002(d) (West Supp. 2017).
See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967).
On February 5, 2018, the supplemental clerk's record was filed. That record appointed Jason Duff to represent K.T. on appeal.
This is an appeal from the termination of K.T.'s parental rights which, by statute, is accelerated. See TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 109.002(a-1) (West Supp. 2017). Further, under Rule 6.2(a) of the Texas Rules of Judicial Administration, we are required, "so far as reasonably possible, [to] ensure that the appeal is brought to final disposition . . . within 180 days of the date the notice of appeal was filed." TEX. R. JUD. ADMIN. 6.2. After weighing these considerations, we feel compelled to set the following briefing deadlines, with which we require strict compliance:
Deadline for filing appellant's brief: February 26, 2018
Deadline for filing appellee's brief: March 19, 2018 No extensions of these briefing deadlines will be granted.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
BY THE COURT Date: February 6, 2018