Geoffrey Nathan Lowry v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: April 4, 2023
• Docket: 07-22-00281-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The Court of Appeals Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo

No. 07-22-00281-CR

GEOFFREY NATHAN LOWRY, APPELLANT

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE

On Appeal from the 181st District Court Randall County, Texas Trial Court No. 30319B, Honorable Dan Schaap, Presiding

April 4, 2023 MEMORANDUM OPINION Before QUINN, C.J., and PARKER and YARBROUGH, JJ.

Following a plea of not guilty, Appellant, Geoffrey Nathan Lowry, was convicted by

a jury of online solicitation of a minor.1 He was sentenced to twenty years’ confinement

and assessed a $10,000 fine. By two issues, he challenges the assessment of $4,600

for court-appointed attorney’s fees and the assessment of a time-payment fee of $15.

The State has filed a letter representing it does not oppose the relief sought by Appellant

1 TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 33.021. but notes that should Appellant seek further relief, it will file a response. We affirm the

conviction but delete the complained-of amounts from the Bill of Costs dated October 12,

2022.

Once a criminal defendant has been found to be indigent, he is presumed to remain

indigent for the remainder of the proceedings unless a material change in his financial

resources occurs. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 26.04(p). See also Mayer v.

State, 309 S.W.3d 552, 555–56 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). Additionally, the assessment of

a time-payment fee while an appeal is pending is premature. Dulin v. State, 620 S.W.3d

129, 132–33 (Tex. Crim. App. 2021); Pruitt v. State, 646 S.W.3d 879, 885-86 (Tex. App.—

Amarillo 2022, no pet.). We agree with Appellant that the proper remedy is to delete the

assessments.

CONCLUSION

The trial court’s judgment is affirmed; however, the Bill of Costs is reformed to

delete the assessment of court-appointed attorney’s fees of $4,600 and the assessment

of the time-payment fee of $15. The trial court clerk is ordered to issue an amended Bill

of Costs and then to deliver a copy of same to this Court and to the Texas Department of

Criminal Justice.

Alex L. Yarbrough Justice

Do not publish.