NO. 02-11-00199-CR

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FROM COUNTY CRIMINAL Court NO. 4 OF Denton COUNTY

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MEMORANDUM OPINION1 AND JUDGMENT

PERMANENTLY ABATING APPEAL

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          We received a letter dated April 5, 2012 from the State and a letter dated April 5, 2012 from Appellant’s counsel, both stating that Appellant John Hankins had died on March 28, 2012.  The State’s letter included a copy of Hankins’s obituary, showing that he had died on Wednesday, March 28, 2012.  According to the parties’ letters, they agree that this appeal should be permanently abated.  See Tex. R. App. P. 7.1(a)(2).

          The death of an appellant during the pendency of an appeal deprives this court of jurisdiction.  Molitor v. State, 862 S.W.2d 615, 616 (Tex. Crim. App. 1993).  Under these circumstances, the appropriate disposition is the permanent abatement of the appeal.  See Tex. R. App. P. 7.1(a)(2).

          Accordingly, because no decision of this court had been delivered prior to our receipt of the parties’ letters and because the parties are in agreement that this appeal should be permanently abated, the court on its own motion permanently abates the appeal.  It is therefore ordered, adjudged, and decreed that this appeal is permanently abated.

                                                                             PER CURIAM

PANEL:  WALKER, GARDNER, and MEIER, JJ.

DO NOT PUBLISH

TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b)

DELIVERED:  April 19, 2012