Opinion
No. 05-16-01103-CR
08-23-2017
HUBERT VAUGHN THOMAS, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 86th Judicial District Court Kaufman County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 15-50706-86-F
ORDER
Before the Court is appellant's August 18, 2017 motion to extend time to file his brief. In the motion, appellant states he cannot file his brief because the appellate record is incomplete and several exhibits should be refiled. A review of the appellate record reveals that the items appellant complains of are either missing or the copies on file are unable to be reviewed. Specifically, the juror cards have not been filed and the black and white photos contained in volume 8 of the reporter's record appear as solid or nearly solid black images and, as such, provide nothing to review.
We GRANT appellant's motion in part. We ORDER the Kaufman County District Clerk to file a supplemental clerk's record containing the juror cards and juror information within FIFTEEN DAYS of the date of this order.
We STRIKE volume 8 of the reporter's record filed February 13, 2017 and ORDER court reporter Elizabeth Crow Woods to file, within FIFTEEN DAYS of the date of this order, a supplemental reporter's record volume 8 containing color photocopies instead of black and white photocopies.
Because the State's Exhibit No. 1 on file with this Court is a working file, we DENY that portion of appellant's motion seeking that Exhibit No. 1 be resubmitted.
Finally, we note that appellant's brief was originally due March 15, 2017. Beginning in April, appellant has filed three motions to extend time to file the brief. In June, we abated the appeal for a hearing to determine why the brief had not been filed. At the July 7, 2017 hearing, appellate counsel did not complain about the state of the record. Rather, she stated she needed an additional thirty days in which to file the brief. To the extent appellant has been unable to file a brief due to issues with the appellate record, a more expedient means of resolving the issue would have been to file a motion seeking correction of the appellate record in March or April. We ORDER appellant's brief due forty-five days from the date of this order. We caution appellant that the failure to file a brief by that date will result in appellate counsel being removed and new counsel being appointed.
/s/ ADA BROWN
JUSTICE