Case Information
*0 FILED IN 14th COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS 2/20/2015 8:59:54 AM CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE Clerk *1 ACCEPTED 14-14-00510-CR FOURTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS 2/20/2015 8:59:54 AM CHRISTOPHER PRINE CLERK No. 14-14-00510-CR In the
Court of Appeals
For the Fourteenth District of Texas At Houston
No. 1383453
In the 208 th District Court Of Harris County, Texas WILLIAM MICHAEL DIXON Appellant
v. THE STATE OF TEXAS Appellee
STATE’S MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE BRIEF To the Honorable Court of Appeals:
The State of Texas, pursuant to Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 2 and
10.5, moves for an extension of time in which to file its appellate brief. The
following facts are relevant:
1. The appellant was indicted for driving while intoxicated as a third
offender. Appellant pled not guilty, a jury heard the trial, and it found
him guilty. The trial court assessed sentence at 40 years confinement
in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Appellant filed timely
notice of appeal.
2. Appellant filed an appellate brief on January 21, 2015.
3. The State’s appellate brief is due on February 20, 2015.
4. This is the State’s first request for an extension in this case.
5. The State requests this extension of time in which to file its brief, and
the undersigned attorney believes that a brief can be filed by April 2,
2015, she is requesting a lengthier than usual extension for the
reasons addressed below.
6. The following facts are relied upon to show good cause for an
extension of time to allow the State to file its brief:
a. At present, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office
employees 15 appellate prosecutors, but on being deployed on
active military service is unable to carry a caseload. Accordingly,
the remaining members of the appellate division are currently
assigned a caseload of approximately 67 active cases showing
an average of 4.7 briefs per prosecutor.
b. The attorney to whom this case is assigned has three
outstanding briefs assigned to her including this one, and one
case on abatement that will soon be returned to active status,
was recently called upon to file a petition for discretionary
review on a matter, and is preparing for oral argument on
March 3, 2015, on Leland Dykes v. State . This has slowed her
response on appellant’s brief. She received this briefing
assignment on February 6, 2015, and could not complete it by
the initial deadline because of her existing workload.
c. Between the time that the appellant filed his brief in this case
and this State’s motion for extension, the undersigned has filed
three briefs, namely: Haynes v. State , No. 14-14-00353-CR,
Perez v. State , 14-14-00476-CR, and a petition for discretionary
review in Oliver v. State , No. 14-13-00957-CR.
d. The workload of this prosecutor is not out of the ordinary in
the appellate division of the Harris County District Attorney’s
Office.
e. In addition to its assignments in responding to appellate briefs,
the appellate division of the Harris County District Attorney’s
Office also answers questions from trial prosecutors. These
questions frequently occur in the middle of or immediately
before trial, and therefore other work must be put aside to
answer these pressing questions. Harris County has 25
Criminal District Courts and 15 County Criminal Courts at Law,
and this particular prosecutor is tasked with answering
questions related to Texas Code of Criminal Procedure article
39.14 regarding discovery changes, is one of two prosecutors
tasked with answering any juvenile law related questions, and
answers questions from five felony courts in addition to the
three juvenile courts.
f. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office Appellate Division
is experiencing a significant workload at present. Appellate
prosecutors, including the undersigned attorney, are working as
quickly as possible including during overtime hours to complete
as many briefs as possible as quickly as possible while still
addressing all the issues raised by appellant’s as thoroughly as
necessary to see that justice is done on each appeal. Accounting
for varying staffing levels, the output of the division is not
significantly different than it was this time last year. However,
because of the high workload per prosecutor, as well as the
greater length and complexity of appeals being brought in this
county, it is taking longer to process all of the assigned cases,
and more cases thereby require multiple extension or more
lengthy extensions before the completion of each brief. It is this
prosecutor’s expectation that she should be able to complete
this brief by the requested extension date to avoid the need for
any further extension requests on this case.
WHEREFORE, the State prays that this Court will grant the requested
extension until April 2, 2015.
Respectfully submitted, /s/ Jessica A. Caird J ESSICA A. C AIRD Assistant District Attorney Harris County, Texas 1201 Franklin, Suite 600 Houston, Texas 77002-1923 (713) 755-5826 caird_jessica@dao.hctx.net TBC No. 24000608 *5 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I certify that I have requested that efile.txcourts.gov electronically serve a
copy of this motion to:
David Rushing
Attorney at Law
723 Main Street, St. 816
Houston, TX 77002
davidrushing@hotmail.com
Tom Abbate
Attorney at Law
2425 West Loop South, Ste. 200
Houston, TX 77027
tomabbatelaw@gmail.com
/s/ Jessica A. Caird Jessica A. Caird Assistant District Attorney Harris County, Texas 1201 Franklin, Suite 600 Houston, Texas 77002-1923 (713) 755-5826 caird_jessica@dao.hctx.net TBC No. 24000608 Date: February 20, 2015