Devoris Newson v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: April 12, 2024
• Docket: 08-24-00061-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS EIGHTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS EL PASO, TEXAS

DEVORIS NEWSON, § No. 08-24-00061-CR

Appellant, § Appeal from the

v. § 120th Judicial District Court

THE STATE OF TEXAS, § of El Paso County, Texas

Appellee. § (TC#20110D01149)

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This appeal is before the Court on its own motion to determine whether it should be

dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Because there is no appealable order, we dismiss the appeal for

want of jurisdiction.

Appellate court jurisdiction is authorized by statute. See Galitz v.

State, 617 S.W.2d 949, 951 (Tex. Crim. App. 1981) (en banc). In the absence of an authorizing

statute, appellate courts are without jurisdiction to consider an appeal. In criminal cases, the Texas

Legislature has authorized appeals from final, written judgments and certain interlocutory orders.

See Gutierrez v. State, 307 S.W. 3d 318, 321 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). Appellant’s pro se notice of

appeal does not specify the order he is attempting to appeal, and it includes as an exhibit a notice from the 120th District Court of El Paso County stating that trial court cause No. 20110D01149

has been dismissed and is no longer pending in the district court. 1

On March 13, 2023, the clerk of this Court sent Appellant a letter notifying him that it

appeared there was no appealable order at issue in this case. The letter gave notice of our intent to

dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction after ten days from the date of the letter unless grounds

were shown to continue the appeal. This Court received Appellant’s response on March 20, 2024.

His response did not identify an appealable order but instead explains what seems to be a complaint

regarding his conditions of confinement, which would be raised in the courts through a different

procedural vehicle. Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction.

LISA J. SOTO, Justice

April 12, 2024

Before Alley, C.J., Palafox and Soto, JJ.

1 This is Appellant’s third attempt to appeal from cause No. 20110D01149. Newson v. State, No. 08-23-00259-CR, 2023 WL 6814142, at *1 (Tex. App.—El Paso Oct. 16, 2023, no pet.) (mem. op.); Newson v. State, No. 08-23-00213-CR, 2023 WL 5420248, at *1 (Tex. App.—El Paso Aug. 22, 2023, no pet.) (mem. op).