In Re: Eric Drake v. the State of Texas

DENIED and Opinion Filed May 16, 2024

S In The
Court of Appeals
Fifth District of Texas at Dallas
No. 05-24-00342-CV

IN RE ERIC DRAKE, Relator

Original Proceeding from the 282nd Judicial District Court
Dallas County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. F-2276307

MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Justices Partida-Kipness, Nowell, and Miskel
Opinion by Justice Miskel
In his April 10, 2024 amended petition for writ of mandamus, relator contends

that the trial court has violated his right to a speedy trial and that the trial court has

failed to rule on several of his pre-trial motions.

Entitlement to mandamus relief requires a relator to show that the trial court

clearly abused its discretion and that the relator lacks an adequate appellate remedy.

In re Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 148 S.W.3d 124, 135–36 (Tex. 2004) (orig.

proceeding).

After reviewing relator’s amended petition and the record before us, we

conclude that relator has failed to demonstrate entitlement to mandamus relief. See
Ex parte Sheffield, 685 S.W.3d 86, 96–98 (Tex. Crim. App. 2023) (explaining the

existence of adequate remedies to vindicate the speedy trial right, including a

“motion to dismiss and appeal in the normal course and mandamus when trial is

indefinitely postponed”); In re Torres, No. 05-22-00715-CV, 2022 WL 17485033,

at *3 (Tex. App.—Dallas Dec. 7, 2022, orig. proceeding) (mem. op.) (explaining

that whether a reasonable period of time for a judge to rule on a pending motion has

elapsed is heavily circumstantial). We note that the record shows that respondent

only recently received the underlying case after it was transferred to her on March

22, 2024, due to the previous judge’s recusal.

Accordingly, we deny the amended petition for writ of mandamus. See TEX.

R. APP. P. 52.8(a). In conjunction with his amended petition, relator also filed an

amended emergency motion for temporary relief to stay all trial court proceedings.

We deny the amended emergency motion as moot.

/Emily Miskel/
EMILY MISKEL
240342F.P05 JUSTICE

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