Chivas Hill v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: August 10, 2023
• Docket: 02-23-00165-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________

No. 02-23-00165-CR ___________________________

CHIVAS HILL, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS

On Appeal from Criminal District Court No. 1 Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. 1738629

Before Sudderth, C.J.; Kerr and Walker, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Walker MEMORANDUM OPINION

Chivas Hill, proceeding pro se, attempts to appeal the trial court’s order placing

him on deferred adjudication probation for the felony offense of aggravated assault

with a deadly weapon. Hill pleaded guilty pursuant to a plea agreement, and the trial

court sentenced him in accordance with that agreement. With Hill’s notice of appeal,

we received (1) the defendant’s written waiver of right to appeal, and (2) the trial

court’s certification of defendant’s right of appeal. Hill signed both documents, which

indicate that he waived his right to appeal as part of his plea agreement.

In a plea bargain case, the trial court must file a certification of the defendant’s

right to appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(a)(2), (d). An appeal must be dismissed if the

certification of the right to appeal is not defective and shows that the defendant

waived his right to appeal pursuant to a plea agreement. Jones v. State, 488 S.W.3d 801,

804–05 (Tex. Crim. App. 2016); see Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(d) (requiring that an appeal

be dismissed “if a certification that shows the defendant has the right of appeal has

not been made part of the record”).

We notified Hill and his attorney of this certification issue and informed them

that unless we received a response by July 24, 2023, showing grounds for continuing

the appeal, we could dismiss it. We received no response.

Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(d), 43.2(f); Smith v.

State, No. 02-22-00122-CR, 2022 WL 2840271, at *1 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth July 21,

2022, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication) (dismissing appeal of

2 deferred-adjudication order where appellant waived appeal pursuant to plea

agreement).

/s/ Brian Walker

Brian Walker Justice

Do Not Publish Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b)

Delivered: August 10, 2023