Darion Richardson v. State

IN THE TENTH COURT OF APPEALS No. 10-07-00217-CR DARION RICHARDSON, Appellant v. The State of Texas, Appellee From the 13th District Court Navarro County, Texas Trial Court # 30944 MEMORANDUM Opinion A jury convicted Appellant Darion Richardson of burglary, and the trial court sentenced him to one year in a state jail. Notice of appeal was timely, and the trial judge certified his right to appeal. When Richardson’s brief was not timely filed, we abated this appeal for a hearing in the trial court for a determination of why no brief had been filed. On that occasion, the trial court found that Richardson wanted to continue the appeal and admonished counsel to file the brief at the earliest possible date. No brief was forthcoming, and we abated the appeal for a second time. After a hearing at which Richardson failed to appear, the trial judge found that Richardson was not communicating with his counsel and that counsel had abandoned the appeal because of non-cooperation. Richardson has not filed his brief. He has chosen not to take advantage of the opportunities afforded him. See Wilson v. State, 39 S.W.3d 390, 391 (Tex. App.—Waco 2001, no pet.) (per curiam). We and the trial court have made every effort to protect Richardson’s rights, and further abatement of this cause would be futile. See Carroll v. State, 75 S.W.3d 633, 634 (Tex. App.—Waco 2002, no pet.). We have submitted the appeal without briefs and have reviewed the record for fundamental error. See Tex. R. App. P. 38.8(b)(4); Lott v. State, 874 S.W.2d 687, 687-88 (Tex. Crim. App. 1994­); Carroll, 75 S.W.3d at 634. Our review of the record discloses no unassigned fundamental error. See Lott, 874 S.W.2d at 688. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s judgment. BILL VANCE Justice Before Chief Justice Gray, Justice Vance, and Justice Reyna Affirmed Opinion delivered and filed August 6, 2008 Do not publish [CR25]