NUMBER 13-08-00725-CR COURT OF APPEALS THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG ____________________________________________________________

DUANE PHILLIP RANTHUM, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee. ____________________________________________________________ On Appeal from the 156th District Court of Live Oak County, Texas. ____________________________________________________________ MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Chief Justice Valdez and Justices Yañez and Benavides Memorandum Opinion Per Curiam Appellee, The State of Texas, by and through its attorney, has filed a motion for involuntary dismissal of the appeal. Appellant was sentenced to thirty-five years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division for aggravated assault. The State’s motion is supported by affidavit, showing that appellant escaped from custody on December 24, 2008, and that appellant remains at large and has not returned to custody.

See TEX . R. APP. P. 42.4. Appellant’s counsel has not filed a reply to the State’s motion.

Without passing on the merits of the case, we grant the motion to involuntarily dismiss pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 42.4 and dismiss the appeal.

PER CURIAM

Do not publish.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

Memorandum Opinion delivered and filed this the 26th day of February, 2009.