Aaron John Lewis Jr. v. State

423 S.W.3d 451, 2013 WL 6115134, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 14288
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided November 21, 2013·No. 02-12-00088-CR, 02-12-00089-CR·Published·Cited by 29 cases

Opinion

OPINION

ANNE GARDNER, Justice.

Introduction

Appellant Aaron John Lewis Jr. challenges fines and costs related to his revoked deferred-adjudication community supervision and attendant convictions for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and burglary of a habitation. We modify the judgments and affirm.

Background Facts and Procedural History

In 2010, Appellant negotiated guilty pleas to burglary of a habitation and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. On September 7 of that year, the trial court admonished Appellant in writing that if it followed the plea-bargain agreement, Appellant would have to obtain the trial *453 court’s permission before appealing on any matter in the case, except for matters raised by written motion and filed before trial. The trial court further admonished Appellant that it seldom consents to appeals in cases involving guilty pleas. Page 6 of the trial court’s written plea admonishments is entitled “WRITTEN WAIVER OF DEFENDANT — JOINED BY ATTORNEY.” Item “0” on page 7, which Appellant signed, states, “I give up and waive any and all rights of appeal in this case[.]”

Appellant pled guilty, the trial court accepted his pleas, and followed the plea bargains, deferring its findings of guilt and placing Appellant on six years’ deferred-adjudication community supervision. The docket sheets indicate that the conditions of community supervision, filed the date of Appellant’s guilty plea, were served on Appellant in open court. The conditions of community supervision instruct Appellant to pay “ATTORNEY FEES in the amount of $725.00.” The last page of the conditions bears Appellant’s signature and fingerprints below a line that reads, “I have received my conditions of community supervision.”

The trial court signed the orders of deferred adjudication on September 15, 2010. The order in the aggravated-assault case, cause 12016S2D, includes the following “special findings or orders:”

FINE IN THE AMOUNT OF $600.00, ATTORNEY FEES IN THE AMOUNT OF $725.00, AND COURT COSTS IN THE AMOUNT OF $274.00, PAYABLE TO AND THROUGH THE CRIMINAL DISTRICT CLERK’S OFFICE OF TARRANT COUNTY, TEXAS

Similarly, in the burglary case, cause 1201653D, the deferred-adjudication order includes the following “special findings or orders:”

FINE IN THE AMOUNT OF $600.00, AND COURT COSTS IN THE AMOUNT OF $274.00, PAYABLE TO AND THROUGH THE CRIMINAL DISTRICT CLERK’S OFFICE OF TARRANT COUNTY, TEXAS

The trial court certified that both cases involved plea bargains and that Appellant had no right of appeal. Appellant did not file a notice of appeal from either of the deferred-adjudication orders.

In 2012, the State petitioned the trial court to adjudicate Appellant’s guilt and revoke his community supervision, alleging that he had violated several of its conditions. At a hearing on the State’s petition, Appellant pled “true” to eight of the State’s allegations. The trial court adjudicated Appellant’s guilt for both offenses, revoked his community supervision, and sentenced him to ten years’ confinement in each case, to run concurrently.

The trial court’s written judgment adjudicating Appellant’s guilt in the aggravated assault case includes the following “special findings or orders:”

REPARATIONS IN THE AMOUNT OF $2,806.00.
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APPOINTED ATTORNEY FEES IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,725.00 PAYABLE TO AND THROUGH THE DISTRICT CLERK’S OFFICE OF TAR-RANT COUNTY, TX ORDERED AS A CONDITION OF PAROLE UNDER ARTICLE 26.05(g) T.C.C.P.

The clerk’s record includes a balance sheet evidently prepared by the community-supervision department that breaks down the $2,806.00 listed as reparations into the following four items: (1) “FINES [$]561.00,” (2) “DUE TO CSCD $20.00,” (3) “ATTY FEES 1 [$]725.00,” and (4) “ATTY FEES 2 [$]1,000.00,” for a total amount of “[$]2,306.00.”

*454 The judgment adjudicating guilt in the burglary case likewise recites as a “special finding or order” “REPARATIONS IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,607.00.” It, too, is accompanied in the clerk’s record by a balance sheet evidently prepared by the community-supervision department itemizing this amount into: (1) “FINES [$]600.00,” (2) “DUE TO CSCD $150.00,” and (3) “PROBATION FEES $920.00,” for a total of “[$]1,670.00.”

After revoking Appellant’s community supervision and adjudicating his guilt in the two cases, the trial court certified that Appellant had the right to appeal the judgments adjudicating guilt. See Tex.R.App. P. 25.2(d). Appellant exercised that right and presents five issues on appeal.

Issue 1 — Attorney Fees in the Aggravated-Assault Case

In his first issue, Appellant contends that the trial court erred by ordering him to repay court-appointed-attorney fees in the aggravated-assault case. He asserts that the recitation in the judgment adjudicating guilt that ordered the repayment is erroneous in two ways: (1) the clause ordering repayment “AS A CONDITION OF PAROLE UNDER ARTICLE 26.05(g) T.C.C.P.” is incorrect because article 26.05(g) does not grant trial courts authority to affect the conditions of parole; and (2) nothing in the record shows that Appellant — whom the trial court had determined was indigent — was able to pay for any of his court-appointed attorney’s legal services.

While the first argument may not dispose of Appellant’s main issue, it is well taken. Article 26.05 of the code of criminal procedure is entitled “Compensation of Counsel Appointed to Defend.” Subsection (g) provides the following:

If the court determines that a defendant has financial resources that enable him to offset in part or in whole the costs of the legal services provided, including any expenses and costs, the court shall order the defendant to pay during the pendency of the charges or, if convicted, as court costs the amount that it finds the defendant is able to pay.

Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 26.05(g) (West Supp.2013). Although the statute’s express language grants trial courts authority to order repayment of costs incurred for legal services, it does not grant them any authority to affect conditions of parole. We therefore sustain part of Appellant’s first issue and strike from the judgment in cause 1201632D the clause “ORDERED AS A CONDITION OF PAROLE UNDER ARTICLE 26.05(g) T.C.C.P.”

The crux of Appellant’s first issue remains, however: that is, whether the trial court properly ordered repayment of attorney fees in the first place. Both Appellant and the State correctly point out that once a trial court makes a finding that a defendant is indigent, absent evidence of a substantial change in the defendant’s financial circumstances, the defendant is presumed to remain indigent for the remainder of the proceedings. Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 26.04(p) (West Supp.2013); Wiley v. State, 410 S.W.3d 313, 315 (Tex.Crim.App.2013); Mayer v. State, 309 S.W.3d 552, 557 (Tex.Crim.App.2010).

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Aaron John Lewis Jr. v. State, 423 S.W.3d 451, 2013 WL 6115134, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 14288 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

423 S.W.3d 451 (Aaron John Lewis Jr. v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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