Chudej v. State

255 S.W.3d 273, 2008 WL 668014

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: April 1, 2008
• Docket: 10-08-00040-CR
• Status: Published

Opinions

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Kevin Lee Chudej appeals from an order issued under section 501.014(e) of the Government Code directing the Department of Criminal Justice to withdraw funds from his inmate trust account for payment of court costs and fees incurred in connection with his felony conviction. Because this is a criminal law matter and because no statute authorizes such an appeal, we will dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.

This Court has appellate jurisdiction in a criminal case only when expressly provided by law. Kelly v. State, 151 S.W.3d 683, 685 (Tex.App.-Waco 2004, no pet.); see also Rushing v. State, 85 S.W.3d 283, 285 (Tex.Crim.App.2002) (right to appeal “is derived entirely from statute”). No statute authorizes an appeal from an order under section 501.014(e). See Gross v. State, No. 07-06-00489-CR, — S.W.3d —, —, 2007 WL 2089365, at *2 (Tex.App.-Amarillo July 23, 2007, no pet.); contra Abdullah v. State, 211 S.W.3d 938 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 2007, no pet.) (addressing merits of such an appeal).

Therefore, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.¹

Chief Justice GRAY dissenting.

1 . Chudej is not necessarily without a remedy. See In re Keeling, 227 S.W.3d 391 (Tex.App.Waco 2007, orig. proceeding).