Case Information

*1 PD-0186-15 COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS Transmitted 2/17/2015 12:38:19 PM Accepted 2/18/2015 10:07:24 AM ABEL ACOSTA No. ____________________ CLERK ROBERT LYNN PRIDGEN, § IN THE COURT OF

§

Petitioner, §

§ CRIMINAL APPEALS

vs. §

§

THE STATE OF TEXAS § AUSTIN, TEXAS

__________________________________________________________________

PETITIONER’S MOTION FOR EXTENTION OF TIME TO FILE PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW __________________________________________________________________

To the Honorable Court of Criminal Appeals:

Robert L. Pridgen, Petitioner, respectfully asks the Court to extend the March 2, 2015, deadline for his petition for discretionary review (PDR) to April 6, 2015, pursuant to Rule 68.2(c).

T HE P ARTIES AND T HEIR C OUNSEL The following is a list of all parties to the trial court’s judgment and the names and addresses of all trial and appellate counsel: Appellant Appellant’s Appellate Counsel Mr. Robert Lynn Pridgen Mr. James W. Volberding

First Place 100 E. Ferguson Street Suite 500

Tyler, TX 75702 (903) 597-6622 Appellant’s Trial Counsel Mr. Jeff Haas 100 E. Ferguson, Suite 908

Tyler, TX 75702

State of Texas State’s Appellate Counsel

Ms. Allyson Mitchell (DA formerly Mr. Douglas Lowe) Anderson County District Attorney

500 N. Church Street, Room 38 Palestine, TX 75801 State’s Trial Counsel Mr. Stanley Sokolowski Mr. Scott Holden Anderson Co. Asst. District Attorneys

S TATEMENT OF THE C ASE

Court of Appeals Robert L. Pridgen v. State , No. 12-13-00136-

CR, In the Twelfth Court of Appeals, Tyler. Nature of the case Prosecution for murder, under Texas Penal

Code section 19.02, and the lesser-included offense of manslaughter, under section 19.04.

District court Hon. Deborah Oakes Evans, 369 th District

Court, Anderson County, case number 29956.

Course and disposition Mr. Pridgen pled not guilty. RR11:8-9.

of proceedings After the court denied his motion for

directed verdict, a jury convicted Pridgen of murder, RR15:65; CR166, and sentenced him to 20 years incarceration, RR15:128; CR163, 164. The court denied Pridgen’s *3 motion for new trial by operation of law. RR13:137; CR170, 174 (presented). Properly certified, CR157, Pridgen timely appealed. CR177.

The Tyler Court of Appeals affirmed Pridgen’s conviction and sentence December 3, 2014, and denied Pridgen’s January 20, 2015 motion for rehearing without comment on January 30, 2015.

Deadline for PDR March 2, 2015

Length of Extension 34 days

Sought

New Deadline Sought April 6, 2015, Monday

Number of Previous None

Extensions Granted

R EASON FOR E XTENSION

Mr. Pridgen’s lead attorney, Mr. Volberding, is an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve. He will be deployed out of the country by the Army for a short period from the end of February to mid-March. (The dates and location are unclassified but inappropriate for public filing.) A redacted copy of his orders are attached. This period of absence will have the effect of compressing work on this and other cases before and after the absence.

Further, Mr. Volberding and the second attorney on the case, Mr. Greg Smith, have a series of pending deadlines in other civil and criminal appeals and trials. Finally, this is an appeal from a murder conviction. The issues for the PDR are complex. This is Pridgen’s first request for extension of his PDR and likely to be the only one.

WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, Mr. Pridgen’s counsel respectfully asks the Court to extend to his rehearing motion deadline 34 days to April 6.

Respectfully submitted this 16 of February 2015,

/s/ James W. Volberding By: ____________________________ JAMES W. VOLBERDING SBN: 00786313 100 E. Ferguson Street Suite 500

Tyler, Texas 75702 (903) 597-6622 (866) 398-6883 (Fax) e-mail:

jamesvolberding@gmail.com Attorney for Petitioner, Mr. Robert Lynn Pridgen CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of this pleading has been delivered this 16 day of February 2015 to:

Anderson Co. District Attorney

Courthouse

500 North Church Street

Palestine, TX 75801

by the following means:

_____ By U.S. Postal Service Certified Mail, R.R.R.

_____ By First Class U.S. Mail

_____ By Special Courier _______________________ _____ By Hand Delivery

__X__ By Fax before 5 p.m. to (903) 723-7818

_____ By Fax after 5 p.m.

_____ By email. /s/ James W. Volberding

____________________________ JAMES W. VOLBERDING