COMES the Appellant, Virginia Smith, and is response to this Court's letter and decision dated February 11, 2015, Appellant states that her pro se Notice of Appeal was timely filed herein, based upon the understanding that the deadline to file a notice of appeal was FEBRUARY 6, 2015.

Appellant interpreted the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure to allow her thirty (30) days within which to file her notice of appeal, from the date that her Judgment of Conviction by a Jury was entered by the Clerk for the ${102}^{\text{nd}}$ District Court, as that is the Order from which see seeks to appeal. That Judgment was entered on the $6^{\text{th}}$ day of January, 2015, as evidenced by the Clerk's official date/time stamp in the upper-left corner of the Judgment. This would allow Appellant until the $5^{\text{th}}$ day of February, 2015 to file her notice of appeal. Appellant filed her Notice of Appeal on February 4, 2015.

Rule 26.2 of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure states: "The notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days after the day sentence is imposed or suspended in open court, or after the day the trial court enters an appealable order" (emphasis added). Appellant submits that a liberal interpretation of this Rule's language should permit her to perfect her appeal within the timeline outlined above, as would the interests of justice and fairness.

Appellant further requests that, in the event this Court determines that her Notice of Appeal was not timely filed, she be allowed to perfect a belated appeal. Appellant certifies that she was not advised by her trial counsel regarding the possibility of any appeal, and was certainly not counseled regarding what steps she needed to take to timely file a pro se notice of appeal on her own. Therefore, Appellant was left to marshal the complex Rules of Appellate Procedure on her own, as she was without the means to seek the advice of other counsel. Appellant was never told a specific deadline by which she had to perfect an appeal.

*2

Further, Appellant's nephew, Andreas Austin, whom she raised as a son, passed away on the 2nd day of January, 2015, just after Appellant's sentence was imposed. Appellant was permitted, by the Bowie County Sheriff's Office, to attend his funeral services on January 9, 2015. Appellant submits that this occurrence served as a hardship on her, and her ability to timely perfect this appeal, and asks now that the Court consider the same in determining whether to allow this matter to proceed.

For the foregoing reasons, Appellant requests that this Court find that her notice of appeal was timely filed pursuant to the Rules of Appellant procedure, or in the alternative find that circumstances which warrant a hardship require that Appellant be permitted to perfect her appeal belatedly. Dated:(DATE) $02-34-3015$ VVegie Smeet VIRGINIA SMITH c/o Dorothy Watts 2720 Mill Pond Road Denton, TX 76209-1557 Phone: 940-391-6553 Appellant, In Propria Persona Original filed with the Clerk of this Court, along with any fees required by the clerk, and copies mailed/delivered on this date, $02-36-3015$ , by MAILING to:

DARREN W. ANDERSON

Attorney and Counselor at Law 2010 Moore's Lane, Suite 101 Texarkana, Texas 75503

Hon. Kelley Gossett Crisp

Assistant District Attorney - Bowie County 601 Main Street Texarkana, Texas 75501

Hon. Bobby Lockhart

District Court Judge 710 James Bowie Drive

*3 New Boston, Texas 75570