Leonard Edward Villarreal III v. the State of Texas

In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________ No. 02-25-00084-CR ___________________________ LEONARD EDWARD VILLARREAL III, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS

On Appeal from the 355th District Court Hood County, Texas Trial Court No. CR14507

Before Wallach, J.; Sudderth, C.J.; and Walker, J.

Per Curiam Memorandum Opinion MEMORANDUM OPINION Appellant Leonard Edward Villarreal III appeals from the trial court’s January 24, 2025 judgment. The record before this court does not reflect that Appellant filed a motion for new trial. Accordingly, Appellant’s notice of appeal was due no later than February 24, 2025. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a). However, Appellant did not file his notice of appeal until March 18, 2025, which was outside the 30-day period for filing a notice of appeal and the 15-day period for filing a motion for extension of time. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1), 26.3.

We notified Appellant of our concern that this court did not have jurisdiction over his appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(b); Olivo v. State, 918 S.W.2d 519, 522 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996) (“A timely notice of appeal is necessary to invoke a court of appeals’ jurisdiction.”). We cautioned him that we could dismiss the appeal unless, by March 31, 2025, he or any other party wanting to continue the appeal filed with this court a response showing grounds for the appeal’s continuance. We have not received a response.

Because Appellant’s notice of appeal was not timely filed, we have no jurisdiction over his appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(b), 26.2(a); Olivo, 918 S.W.2d at 2 522–23. We therefore dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.1 See Tex. R. App. P. 43.2(f).

Per Curiam Do Not Publish Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b) Delivered: May 1, 2025

The dismissal of his appeal does not prevent Appellant from filing an application for writ of habeas corpus returnable to the Court of Criminal Appeals for consideration of an out-of-time appeal. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 11.07.