Court OKs Inmate Appeal of Cell Phone Conviction

HOUSTON (AP) � A Texas prisoner who got 10 years for a Nacogdoches County burglary has won a federal appeals court ruling that allows him to appeal an additional 25-year sentence for having a prohibited cell phone in his prison cell. Kenneth Richards, 45, argued his appeal to a federal district was within a required one-year time period but Texas prison officials didn�t mail it quickly enough. By the time it got to court in 2011, the time limit had passed and a judge refused it. But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Tuesday with Richards, who contends the timing of appeals filed by inmates themselves is based on when they�re delivered to prison authorities, not when they�re received by the court. Richards� burglary conviction was his fourth.