Gabriel P. Salas v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: October 3, 2024
• Docket: 02-24-00306-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

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

No. 02-24-00306-CR ___________________________

GABRIEL P. SALAS, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS

On Appeal from the 396th District Court Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. 1531338

Before Womack, Wallach, and Walker, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Womack MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant Gabriel P. Salas attempts to appeal his conviction for two counts of

obstruction or retaliation. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 36.06(c). Salas pled guilty to

those counts pursuant to a plea-bargain agreement, and the trial court sentenced him

in accordance with that agreement to ten years’ confinement on each count, to be

served concurrently. As part of his plea-bargain agreement, Salas waived his right to

appeal.

Consistent with Salas’s plea-bargain agreement, the trial court’s “Certification

of Defendant’s Right of Appeal” states that “the defendant has waived the right of

appeal” and that this “is a plea-bargain case, and the defendant has NO right of

appeal.” See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(a)(2), (d). On August 28, 2024, we notified Salas of

the certification and warned him that we would dismiss the appeal unless we received

a response by September 9, 2024, showing grounds for continuing the appeal. See

Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(d), 44.3. While Salas filed a response, it does not show grounds

for continuing the appeal.1

In accordance with the trial court’s certification, we dismiss Salas’s appeal. See

Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(d), 43.2(f); see, e.g., Hubatch v. State, No. 02-22-00153-CR, 2022

1 Salas’s substantive response consisted of the following one-sentence statement: “Co-erced [sic] plea the District Attorney co-erced [sic] [Salas] to plea for 10 years serv [sic] he would be release[d] in 9 days.”

2 WL 4105417, at *1 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Sept. 8, 2022, no pet.) (mem. op., not

designated for publication).

/s/ Dana Womack

Dana Womack Justice

Do Not Publish Tex.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

Delivered: October 3, 2024