Opinion

Donald Ray Lewis v. State

Court
Texas Court of Appeals, 1st District (Houston)
Filed
Dec 1, 2016
Status
Published
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 3.3%

The opinion

COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE

FIRST DISTRICT OF TEXAS AT HOUSTON

ORDER

Appellate case name: Donald Ray Lewis v. The State of Texas

Appellate case number: 01-16-00261-CR

Trial court case number: 1485045

Trial court: 185th District Court of Harris County

Appellant’s court-appointed counsel filed a brief concluding that the above-

referenced appeal is frivolous. See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 744, 87 S. Ct.

1396, 1400 (1967). Counsel has not, however, filed a letter in accordance with Kelly v.

State, 436 S.W.3d 313 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014), “to (1) notify his client of the motion to

withdraw and the accompanying Anders brief, providing him with a copy of each, (2)

inform him of his right to file a pro se response and of his right to review the record

preparatory to filing that response,” and (3) to “notify his client that, should he wish to

exercise his right to review the appellate record in preparing to file a response to the

Anders brief, he should immediately file a motion for pro se access to the appellate

record with the applicable court of appeals,” which letter includes “a form motion . . .,

lacking only the appellant’s signature and the date, . . . inform[ing] the appellant that, in

order to effectuate his right to review the appellate record pro se, should he choose to

invoke it, he must sign and date the motion and send it on to the court of appeals within

ten days of the date of the letter from appellate counsel.” 436 S.W.3d at 319–20.

Accordingly, we order appellant’s appointed counsel, Kevin P. Keating, to send a

letter and a form motion, such as the motion attached to this order, to the appellant in

accordance with Kelly. Id. We further order appellant’s appointed counsel to notify us,

in writing, “that he has (1) informed the appellant of the motion to withdraw and

attendant Anders brief, (2) provided the appellant with the requisite copies while

notifying him of his various pro se rights, and (3) supplied him with a form motion for

pro se access to the appellate record.” Id. at 320. Counsel shall send the required letter

to his client and shall file the required notice with the Clerk of this Court within 14 days

of the date of this order.

It is so ORDERED.

Judge’s signature: /s/ Harvey Brown

 Acting individually

Date: December 1, 2016

Return to:

First Court of Appeals

301 Fannin Street

Houston, Texas 77002

Case Number

01-16-00261-CR

Donald Ray Lewis § COURT OF APPEALS

§ 1ST DISTRICT

The State of Texas § HOUSTON, TEXAS

Pro se Motion for Access to Appellate Record

To the Honorable Justices of Said Court:

Appellant’s appointed counsel has filed a brief in the above styled and numbered

cause pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967).

Appellant now moves this Court to provide him with a copy of the appellate

record including the clerk’s record and the court reporter’s record for use in preparing his

pro se response to counsel’s brief.

Appellant requests an extension of time of 30 days from the granting of this

motion to file a pro se response to counsel’s Anders brief.

Respectfully submitted,

Pro se Appellant

_____________ Unit, TDCJ # __________

____________, Texas _______

Certificate of Service

This is to certify that on (Date), a true and correct copy

of the above and foregoing document was served by mail on:

Harris County District Attorney’s Office, 1201 Franklin, Suite 600, Houston, TX 77002

______________________

Pro se Appellant

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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