Andrew Williams v. the State of Texas

Opinion issued December 14, 2023




                                     In The

                              Court of Appeals
                                     For The

                          First District of Texas
                            ————————————
                              NO. 01-23-00439-CR
                           ———————————
                       ANDREW WILLIAMS, Appellant
                                        V.
                      THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee


                   On Appeal from the 248th District Court
                           Harris County, Texas
                       Trial Court Case No. 1742533


                         MEMORANDUM OPINION

      Appellant, Andrew Williams, has filed a motion to dismiss his appeal for lack

of jurisdiction because his notice of appeal was untimely. Appellant avers that he

requests dismissal of this appeal so that he may seek an out of time appeal through

a writ of habeas corpus. We grant the motion and dismiss the appeal.
      On April 3, 2023, a jury found appellant guilty of the offense of capital murder

and appellant was assessed an automatic sentence of life without the possibility of

parole. Because the record does not indicate that a motion for new trial was filed,

appellant’s notice of appeal was due by May 3, 2023. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a)(1)

(“notice of appeal must be filed…within 30 days after the sentence is imposed or

suspended in open court”); TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a)(2) (“notice of appeal must be

filed within 90 days after the day sentence is imposed or suspended in open court if

the defendant timely files a motion for new trial.”). No motions to extend the time

for filing a notice of appeal were filed with fifteen days of the deadline. See TEX. R.

APP. P. 26.3. Appellant’s notice of appeal was untimely filed on June 8, 2023, thirty-

six days after the deadline.

      “A timely notice of appeal is necessary to invoke a court of appeals’

jurisdiction.” Olivo v. State, 

 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996). “If an

appeal is not timely perfected, a court of appeals does not obtain jurisdiction to

address the merits of the appeal. Under those circumstances it can take no action

other than to dismiss the appeal.” Slaton v. State, 

 (Tex. Crim.

App. 1998).

      Accordingly, we grant appellant’s motion and dismiss this appeal for want of

jurisdiction because appellant’s notice of appeal was untimely. We dismiss any other

pending motions as moot.


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                                 PER CURIAM

Panel consists of Chief Justice Adams and Justices Landau and Rivas-Molloy.

Do not publish. TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).




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