Brian Todd West v. the State of Texas

In The Court of Appeals Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo No. 07-24-00154-CR

BRIAN TODD WEST, APPELLANT V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE On Appeal from the 242nd District Court Castro County, Texas Trial Court No. B4311-2307, Honorable Kregg Hukill, Presiding July 12, 2024 ORDER OF ABATEMENT AND REMAND Before QUINN, C.J., and PARKER and YARBROUGH, JJ.

Appellant, Brian Todd West, appeals his conviction for manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance1 and sentence to twelve years of confinement. The clerk’s record was originally due May 23, 2024, but was not filed. By letter of June 6, 2024, we notified the trial court clerk that the record was overdue and directed her to advise this Court of the status of the record by June 17. To date, the clerk has neither filed the record nor sought an extension of time to do so.

1 See TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. § 481.112.

Accordingly, we abate the appeal and remand the cause to the trial court for further proceedings. See TEX. R. APP. P. 35.3(c) (“The trial and appellate courts are jointly responsible for ensuring that the appellate record is timely filed.”); 37.3(a)(2) (requiring appellate courts to “make whatever order is appropriate to avoid further delay and to preserve the parties’ rights” when the appellate record is not timely filed). On remand, the trial court shall determine the following:

(1) what tasks remain to complete the filing of the clerk’s record; (2) why the clerk has not completed the necessary tasks; (3) what amount of time is reasonably necessary for the completion of those tasks; and (4) whether the clerk can complete the tasks within the time the trial court finds reasonable.

The trial court is directed to enter such orders necessary to address the aforementioned questions. So too shall it include its findings on those matters in a supplemental clerk’s record and cause that record to be filed with this Court by September 10, 2024.

Should the clerk file the record on or before August 12, 2024, she is directed to immediately notify the trial court of the filing, in writing, whereupon the trial court shall not be required to take any further action.

It is so ordered.

Per Curiam

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