Edward Christopher Arndt v. The State of Texas--Appeal from County Court at Law of Harrison County

In The
Court of Appeals
Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana
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No. 06-03-00134-CR
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EDWARD C. ARNDT, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the County Court at Law
Harrison County, Texas
Trial Court No. 2000-0650
Before Morriss, C.J., Ross and Carter, JJ.
Memorandum Opinion by Justice Ross
MEMORANDUM OPINION

Edward C. Arndt attempts to appeal his conviction for operating a vehicle in a public place while intoxicated. Arndt was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 180 days in jail and fined $2,000.00. The issue before us is whether Arndt timely filed his notice of appeal. We conclude he did not and dismiss the attempted appeal for want of jurisdiction.

On the issue of whether Arndt timely perfected his appeal, the record establishes: (1) Arndt's sentence was imposed February 5, 2003; (2) Arndt filed a motion for new trial March 6, 2003; and (3) Arndt's notice of appeal was not filed until June 18, 2003.

A timely notice of appeal is necessary to invoke this Court's jurisdiction. Olivo v. State, 918 S.W.2d 519, 522 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996). Rule 26.2(a) prescribes the time period in which a notice of appeal must be filed by a defendant in order to perfect an appeal in a criminal case. A defendant's notice of appeal is timely if filed within thirty days after the day sentence is imposed or suspended in open court, or within ninety days after sentencing if the defendant timely files a motion for new trial. Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a); Olivo, 918 S.W.2d at 522. When a defendant appeals from a conviction in a criminal case, the time to file a notice of appeal runs from the date sentence is imposed, not from the date sentence is signed and entered by the trial court. Rodarte v. State, 860 S.W.2d 108, 109 (Tex. Crim. App. 1993). The last date allowed for Arndt to timely file his notice of appeal was May 6, 2003, ninety days after the day the sentence was imposed in open court. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(2). A court of appeals may consider a late notice of appeal timely to invoke jurisdiction if: (1) it is filed within fifteen days of the last day allowed for filing; (2) a motion for extension of time is filed in the court of appeals within fifteen days of the last day allowed for filing the notice of appeal; and (3) the court of appeals grants the motion for extension of time. Olivo, 918 S.W.2d at 522.

Although Arndt filed a motion to extend time to file his notice of appeal, he erroneously represented to this Court that the deadline to file his notice of appeal was June 16, 2003. Based on this representation, we granted Arndt's motion. We have now received the record and have determined that Arndt's motion to extend time to file his notice of appeal was outside the fifteen-day grace period provided by Tex. R. App. P. 26.3. His motion, therefore, was improvidently granted.

Arndt's notice of appeal was due May 6, 2003 (or May 21, 2003, with a properly granted motion to extend time). The notice was not filed until June 18, 2003. He has failed to perfect his appeal. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.

 

Donald R. Ross

Justice

 

Date Submitted: September 2, 2003

Date Decided: September 3, 2003

 

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