Opinion
No. 10-14-00407-CR
07-09-2015
MICHAEL EDWARD STRICKLAND, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
From the 82nd District Court Falls County, Texas
Trial Court No. 8033
ORDER
We dismissed Michael Edward Strickland's appeals for want of prosecution on June 25, 2015. Strickland's appellate briefs had not been filed and after warning him by letter dated June 3, 2015, we determined the appeals were not taken with the intention of pursuing them to completion but instead taken for the purpose of delay.
On June 26, 2015, we received a letter from Strickland informing us that he had not been getting his mail timely because, according to him, we had been sending his mail to the wrong prison unit, and he did not receive the June 3, 2015 letter until June 23, 2015. Strickland stated that he had not been at the Estelle Unit, where we had been sending his mail, since January and wanted more time to "get my briefs together."
We consider the June 26, 2015 letter to be a motion for rehearing for each appeal. Strickland's notices of appeal were filed in December of 2014. He filed docketing statements in January of 2015 and did not inform us at that time, or any time in the six months since then, that his address had changed. In fact, we have not heard from Strickland at all until now. It is his burden as a party to keep us informed of where he resides. He failed in carrying out that burden. Further, Strickland has had since April 24, 2015, to "get [his] briefs together." This Court having an inaccurate address did not prevent Strickland from timely filing his briefs or timely filing a motion to extend the time to file his briefs.
We will not rule on Strickland's motion for rehearing at this time. Strickland has 35 days in which to file his briefs at which time we will also consider the motion for rehearing.
PER CURIAM Before Chief Justice Gray, Justice Davis, and Justice Scoggins
Order issued and filed July 9, 2015