Meridith Ann Knight v. The State of Texas--Appeal from County Court at Law No 2 of Brazos County (per curiam)
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NO. 07-11-00400-CR
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SEVENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
AT AMARILLO
PANEL B
JUNE 14, 2012
MERIDITH ANN KNIGHT, APPELLANT
v.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE
FROM THE COUNTY COURT AT LAW NO 2 OF BRAZOS COUNTY;
NO. 09-04792-CRM-CCL2; HONORABLE JAMES W. LOCKE, JUDGE
Before QUINN, C.J., and CAMPBELL and HANCOCK, JJ.
ORDER ON ABATEMENT AND REMAND
Appellant, Meridith Ann Knight, appeals from a judgment convicting her of
possession of marijuana in an amount less than two ounces, and sentence of 180 days
incarceration in the Brazos County Jail, and $2,000 fine. We abate and remand this
appeal.
Appellant filed notice of appeal on August 30, 2011. By order of the Texas
Supreme Court, this appeal was transferred from the Tenth District Court of Appeals to
this Court on October 11, 2011. See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 73.001 (West 2005). The
Clerk’s Record was filed on October 18, 2011.
This Court entered an order of
abatement and remand of this appeal for entry of the trial court’s certification of
defendant’s right of appeal on December 16, 2011. See Knight v. State, No. 07-110400-CR, 2011Tex.App. LEXIS 9942 (Tex.App.—Amarillo Dec. 16, 2011) (order). The
appeal was reinstated when a supplemental clerk’s record containing a certification was
received by this Court on January 10, 2012.
Following reinstatement of the appeal, by letter dated February 27, 2012, this
Court notified the official court reporter that the reporter’s record in this case had been
due to be filed no later than February 9, 2012, and directed the reporter to advise this
Court of the status of the reporter’s record on or before March 8, 2012. When no
response was received from the reporter, we abated this appeal and remanded the
cause to the trial court to hold a hearing to determine the status of the preparation of the
reporter’s record, and to enter any order necessary to ensure that the reporter’s record
would be filed as soon as practicable. See Knight v. State, No. 07-11-0400-CR, 2012
Tex.App. LEXIS 2073 (Tex.App.—Amarillo Mar. 15, 2012) (order). By that order, a
deadline of April 13 was set for supplemental record filings. When no supplemental
filings were received by that date, the Clerk of this Court called the trial court
coordinator, who advised that appellant had sent a letter to the trial court stating that
appellant no longer desired to pursue the appeal. As a result, the court coordinator
indicated that the remand hearing was not held. On the basis of the court coordinator’s
assertion, the Clerk of this Court contacted appellant’s counsel on or about May 18, and
advised that, if appellant no longer desires to pursue the appeal, a motion to dismiss
would need to be filed. Counsel stated that a motion to dismiss would be prepared and
filed as soon as possible. To date, the reporter’s record has still not been filed with this
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Court, appellant has not filed a motion to dismiss, and appellant’s counsel has
repeatedly failed to return phone calls from the Clerk of this Court.
As such, we now abate this appeal and remand the cause to the trial court for
further proceedings. Upon remand, the judge of the trial court is directed to immediately
cause notice to be given of and to conduct a hearing to determine: (1) whether appellant
desires to prosecute this appeal; (2) if appellant desires to prosecute this appeal,
whether appellant is indigent; (3) whether counsel for appellant has abandoned the
appeal; (4) whether appellant=s present counsel should be replaced; and (5) what
orders, if any, should be entered to assure the filing of appropriate notices and
documentation to dismiss appellant=s appeal if appellant does not desire to prosecute
this appeal or, if appellant desires to prosecute this appeal, to assure that the appeal
will be diligently pursued. If the trial court determines that the present attorney for
appellant should be replaced, the court should cause the Clerk of this Court to be
furnished the name, address, and State Bar of Texas identification number of the newlyappointed or newly-retained attorney.
The trial court is directed to: (1) conduct any necessary hearings; (2) make and
file appropriate findings of fact, conclusions of law, and recommendations and cause
them to be included in a supplemental clerk=s record; (3) cause the hearing proceedings
to be transcribed and included in a supplemental reporter=s record; (4) have a record of
the proceedings made to the extent any of the proceedings are not included in the
supplemental clerk=s record or the supplemental reporter=s record; and (5) cause the
records of the proceedings to be sent to this Court. See TEX. R. APP. P. 34.5(C)(2),
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38.8(b)(3). The supplemental clerk=s record, supplemental reporter=s record, and any
additional proceeding records, including any orders, findings, conclusions, and
recommendations, are to be sent so as to be received by the Clerk of this Court not
later than July 12, 2012.
Per Curiam
Do not publish.
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