Daontray Vashon Jones v. the State of Texas

• Court: Texas Court of Appeals, 9th District (Beaumont)
• Decided: January 7, 2026
• Docket: 09-25-00418-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

__________________

NO. 09-25-00418-CR __________________

DAONTRAY VASHON JONES, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

__________________________________________________________________

On Appeal from the 221st District Court Montgomery County, Texas Trial Cause No. 24-02-02863 __________________________________________________________________

MEMORANDUM OPINION

On October 23, 2025, Daontray Vashon Jones filed a notice of appeal in a case

that the trial court dismissed on a motion by the State. The Clerk of the Court issued

a notice to the parties that our jurisdiction was not apparent from the notice of appeal

and warned that the appeal would be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction unless the

Court received a response. Neither party responded to the notice.

Generally, an appeal may be taken by a defendant in a criminal case only after

a final conviction. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a) (establishing time for appeal by a

1 defendant after a sentence is imposed in open court or the trial court signs an

appealable order). In criminal cases, the courts of appeals have jurisdiction only of

appeals authorized by a statute. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 44.02; Abbott

v. State, 271 S.W.3d 694, 697 n.8 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008) (A defendant’s general

right to appeal under article 44.02 has always been limited to appeal from a final

judgment.); Workman v. State, 343 S.W.2d 446, 447 (Tex. Crim. App. 1961)

(Judgment discharging defendant on charge of aggravated assault after conviction

for simple assault was not a judgment of conviction.). Neither of the parties has

shown that the trial court has imposed sentence in open court or signed an order that

may be appealed at this time. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a).1 Accordingly, we dismiss

the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. See id. 43.2(f).

APPEAL DISMISSED.

PER CURIAM

Submitted on January 6, 2026 Opinion Delivered January 7, 2026 Do Not Publish

Before Golemon, C.J., Johnson and Chambers, JJ.

1 On October 23, 2025, Jones filed a notice of appeal from his convictions in Trial Cause Numbers 24-02-02495 and 24-02-02953. Upon receiving the notices of appeal, we docketed Appeal Numbers 09-25-00417-CR and 09-25-00419-CR. Those appeals are unaffected by the dismissal of Appeal Number 09-25-00418-CR.