Davis v. State

150 S.W.3d 196, 2004 WL 1405684
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 9, 2004
Docket13-02-623-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 150 S.W.3d 196 (Davis v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davis v. State, 150 S.W.3d 196, 2004 WL 1405684 (Tex. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice CASTILLO.

Thomas J. Davis appeals his conviction for indecency with a child. 1 We reverse and remand for entry of an order dismissing the charges against him.

I. BACKGROUND

The State of Texas charged Davis by an indictment alleging that on or about May 25, 1996, he committed the offense of indecency with a child by exposure. Following Davis’s guilty plea on August 31, 1999, the trial court deferred adjudication, imposed court costs of $511.25, and placed Davis on community supervision for a term of two years. On October 17, 2002, on Davis’s pleas of true to violations alleged in the State’s motion to revoke, the trial court adjudicated Davis’s guilt, revoked his community supervision, and sentenced him to ten years confinement in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Davis filed a timely pro se notice of appeal, generally asserting his desire to appeal.

Davis’s timely notice of appeal invoked our jurisdiction. See Bayless v. State, 91 S.W.3d 801, 805-06 (Tex.Crim.App.2002). The rules of appellate procedure governing how appeals proceed in criminal cases were amended effective January 1, 2003. This Court applies those amended rules of appellate procedure to all cases on appeal on the effective date of the amendments. See, e.g., Escochea v. State, 139 S.W.3d 67, 70 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 2004, no pet. h.). Accordingly, we abated the appeal on July 21, 2003 and ordered a supplemental record to include, in compliance with rule 25.2(a)(2), the trial court's certification of Davis’s right to appeal (a “CORTA”). See Tex.R.App. P. 25.2(a)(2). On August 14, 2003, the trial court filed a request that we reconsider our application of the amended rules to pending appeals or, alternatively, for additional time to prepare the CORTAs in this case and others. On August 20, 2003, we denied the trial court’s request to reconsider our application of the amended rules but granted its request for additional time to prepare the CORTAs. We extended the time for filing the CORTAs an additional thirty days. The trial court moved for en banc reconsideration. On September 18, 2003, this Court, sitting en banc, withdrew the opinion of August 20, abated the cases subject to the order, and granted the trial court an additional thirty days, or until October 18, 2003, to prepare *200 and file the CORTAs. On October 30, 2003, the trial court submitted a CORTA in this case stating that it is not a plea-bargain case, and Davis has the right of appeal. We reinstated the appeal. The trial court clerk supplemented the record with the CORTA on February 9, 2004.

Meanwhile, on March 25, 2003, court-appointed appellate counsel for Davis filed a brief in which she concluded that this appeal is frivolous. See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 744-45, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967). Counsel’s brief did not recite that she notified Davis of his right to review the appellate record to determine what issues to raise in a prospective pro se brief. See Johnson v. State, 885 S.W.2d 641, 646-47 (Tex.App.-Waco 1994, pet. ref'd) (per curiam). Davis filed a pro se motion informing us that the record had not been made available to him. He requested an extension of time to complete his pro se brief. Therefore, on January 5, 2004, we abated this appeal again and, in the interest of justice, ordered counsel to provide the record to Davis. See McMahon v. State, 529 S.W.2d 771, 772 (Tex.Crim.App.1975) (abating appeal and ordering Anders counsel to inform appellant of right to review record and file pro se brief). We granted Davis’s motion for extension of time and ordered him to file his pro se brief within forty-five days of the date of the order. We received a letter from counsel indicating compliance with our order. We again reinstated this appeal.

Davis timely filed a pro se brief, which we received on February 23, 2004. He questions why he was not discharged from supervision on August 31, 2001, two years after the plea proceeding in which the trial court imposed two years deferred adjudication community supervision. On receipt of Davis’s pro se brief, we reviewed the record. The record reflects that Davis’s plea proceeding was conducted August 31, 1999. The trial court imposed the two years deferred adjudication community supervision on that date, which was reflected in a judgment signed September 9, 1999. The State’s motion to revoke, filed September 19, 2002, recited that the trial court first extended the term of Davis’s community supervision to three years on May 24, 2001. However, no order of that date appeared in the record. The clerk’s record did not reflect any extension order or motion to modify or revoke filed within the original two-year period. The docket sheet contained no entry between August 31, 1999 and September 10, 2002. The first order extending the term of Davis’s community supervision reflected in the clerk’s record was signed February 13, 2002, more than two years after August 31, 1999. We concluded that Davis raised in his pro se brief an arguable issue unrelated to his conviction that we have the power to review in this appeal. See Tex.Code CRiM. PROC. Ann. art. 42.12, § 5(b) (Vernon Supp.2004); see also Kirtley v. State, 56 S.W.3d 48, 51-52 (Tex.Crim.App.2001) (citing Vidaurri v. State, 49 S.W.3d 880, 884 (Tex.Crim.App.2001)); May v. State, 106 S.W.3d 375, 376 n. 4 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 2003, no pet.) (applying Vidaurri to appeal commenced after January 1, 2003 to hold requirements of current rule 25.2(a)(2) inapplicable to claim of error in misapplication of mandatory sentencing statute).

Having disagreed with Anders counsel’s evaluation of Davis’s appeal, we granted counsel’s motion to withdraw, as counsel cannot be required to brief and argue a cause she has determined to be frivolous. See Johnson, 885 S.W.2d at 648 (citing Stafford v. State, 813 S.W.2d 503, 511 (Tex.Crim.App.1991)). However, Davis retained the right to appointed appellate counsel. See Johnson, 885 S.W.2d at 648. To protect that right, on February 24, *201 2004, we abated this appeal for the third time and remanded the cause to the trial court for appointment of a different attorney to represent Davis on appeal. We ordered the trial court to hold a hearing to determine if the record on appeal is correct. We directed the trial court to issue findings of fact and conclusions of law regarding the accuracy of the record.

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150 S.W.3d 196, 2004 WL 1405684, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-state-texapp-2004.