Texas Criminal Appeal Deadline Calculator

How the Texas appeal clock starts

Texas appellate deadlines are unforgiving because they are jurisdictional. A court of appeals only has power to hear your case if the notice of appeal is filed on time. Get the trigger date wrong and every downstream deadline is wrong, so start here: identify the exact day the trial judge pronounced sentence — or placed you on deferred adjudication or community supervision — in open court. That is day zero. The clock begins the next day (Rule 4.1(a)).

This differs from civil practice, where deadlines run from the signing of the judgment. In a criminal case the operative event is the oral pronouncement of sentence in open court. If the court later signs a written judgment on a different date, the criminal-appeal clock still runs from the open-court pronouncement.

The notice of appeal deadline: 30 or 90 days

The notice of appeal is the document that perfects your appeal. Under Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a), it is due:

• 30 days after the day sentence is imposed or suspended in open court, or after the day the trial court enters an appealable order (Rule 26.2(a)(1)); or
• 90 days after that day if you timely filed a motion for new trial (Rule 26.2(a)(2)).

There is no middle ground. Either a timely motion for new trial was on file — pushing you to 90 days — or it was not, and you have 30. Filing the notice of appeal is a short document, but it must physically reach the trial-court clerk within the window. The calculator above shows both the raw deadline and the date it rolls to if the last day lands on a weekend or holiday.

The motion for new trial deadline: 30 days

A motion for new trial asks the trial court to set aside the verdict and try the case again. Under Rule 21.4(a), the defendant may file it before, but no later than 30 days after, the date the trial court imposes or suspends sentence in open court. An amended motion for new trial may be filed within those same 30 days, before the court overrules any preceding motion (Rule 21.4(b)).

The motion for new trial does two jobs. First, it gives the trial judge a last chance to correct error. Second — and critically for deadlines — a timely motion extends the notice-of-appeal deadline to 90 days. An untimely motion does neither; it does not extend anything. That is why the calculator asks whether a timely motion for new trial was filed: it is the switch between the 30-day and 90-day appeal windows.

The 15-day extension window (Rule 26.3)

Missing the notice-of-appeal deadline is not always fatal — but the safety net is narrow and has two parts. Under Rule 26.3, the court of appeals may extend the time to file the notice of appeal only if, within 15 days after the deadline, the appellant does both of the following:

1. files the notice of appeal in the trial court; and
2. files a motion for extension of time in the court of appeals that complies with Rule 10.5(b).

Both filings must happen inside the 15-day window. Filing only the late notice — without the motion to extend — does not work. As explained below, the Court of Criminal Appeals has squarely held that a court of appeals cannot manufacture jurisdiction when the motion is missing. Treat the 15-day period as an emergency measure, not a routine backup, and never wait until the last day. Some courts also measure the 15 days from the original due date, so build in margin.

Counting days: weekends and holidays

Rule 4.1(a) tells you how to count, and two rules matter:

The trigger day does not count.

The day of the event (sentencing) is excluded. Counting starts the next day, so a 30-day period that begins with a July 1 sentencing ends on July 31.

Weekends and legal holidays roll forward.

The last day of the period is included — but if it is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the deadline extends to the end of the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.

Legal holidays are set by Texas Government Code § 662.003, and courts also observe the shifted date when a fixed holiday falls on a weekend. The calculator applies the standard Texas legal holidays and the weekend roll-forward automatically, and it tells you when a deadline was moved. Court closures still vary by county, so confirm the clerk's calendar before you rely on a rolled date.

How Texas courts apply the deadline

Texas appellate courts treat the notice-of-appeal deadline as a hard jurisdictional line, and two Court of Criminal Appeals decisions define the landscape.

In Olivo v. State, the Court of Criminal Appeals held that “a timely notice of appeal is necessary to invoke a court of appeals’ jurisdiction,” and that when a notice is filed late within the 15-day window but no motion for extension is filed, “a court of appeals lacks jurisdiction to dispose of the purported appeal in any manner other than by dismissing it.” The court also confirmed that the exclusive post-conviction remedy for a final felony conviction is a writ of habeas corpus under article 11.07 — the path discussed below.^[1]

Two years later, in Slaton v. State, the court reaffirmed Olivo under the current rules, holding that “if an appeal is not timely perfected, a court of appeals does not obtain jurisdiction to address the merits of the appeal” and “can take no action other than to dismiss the appeal.” The 1997 rewrite of the appellate rules did not change that result.^[2]

The practical lesson: courts have no discretion to forgive a late notice of appeal outside the Rule 26.3 mechanism. There is no “good cause,” “excusable neglect,” or “substantial compliance” exception that revives a blown deadline. That is why the safest course is to file the notice of appeal early and, if anything goes wrong, invoke Rule 26.3 immediately.

If you missed the deadline: article 11.07

If both the notice-of-appeal deadline and the 15-day extension window have passed, the direct appeal is over — but that does not necessarily end the case. For a final felony conviction, the vehicle is a post-conviction writ of habeas corpus under Code of Criminal Procedure article 11.07. One common form of relief is an out-of-time appeal: if you can show that you were denied the effective assistance of counsel in perfecting your appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeals can grant a new appellate timetable.

Unlike the direct-appeal deadlines, article 11.07 has no fixed filing deadline. That does not mean you should wait — long, unexplained delay can support a laches defense, and evidence grows stale. Article 11.07 applies to felony cases; misdemeanor post-conviction relief follows a different path (art. 11.09). This calculator flags the 11.07 route whenever the entered dates show the direct-appeal window has closed.

The deadline ladder at a glance

Special situations

• Guilty pleas and plea bargains. The same time limits apply, but Rule 25.2 requires the trial court to certify the defendant's right to appeal, and a plea-bargain defendant's appeal may be limited to jurisdictional issues or matters raised by written pretrial motion. Check the certification.
• Deferred adjudication and revocation. The clock runs from the day the appealable order or sentence is entered in open court. An order placing you on deferred adjudication and a later adjudication of guilt each have their own appeal timing — confirm which order you are appealing.
• Death-penalty cases. A capital case in which death is assessed goes on automatic direct appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeals under Code of Criminal Procedure art. 37.071, so the standard 30-day notice mechanics differ. This calculator is built for non-capital cases.
• State's appeals and juvenile cases. Different timetables can apply. When in doubt, treat the earliest plausible date as the deadline and confirm with appellate counsel.

[1] Olivo v. State, 918 S.W.2d 519, 522–23 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996). [2] Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998).