Grabowski v. State

27 S.W.3d 594, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 5763, 2000 WL 1230589
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 24, 2000
DocketNo. 11-97-00318-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 27 S.W.3d 594 (Grabowski 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
Grabowski v. State, 27 S.W.3d 594, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 5763, 2000 WL 1230589 (Tex. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

OPINION

ARNOT, Chief Justice.

On Remand

The issue before this court is what may an appellant collaterally attack in an appeal perfected from a judgment adjudicating guilt. The Court of Criminal Appeals held in Manuel v. State, 994 S.W.2d 658 (Tex.Cr.App.1999), that an appellant may not collaterally attack the sufficiency of the evidence to support his original guilty plea in the direct appeal from a later judgment adjudicating his guilt. We hold that an appellant may collaterally attack the volun-tariness of his original guilty plea but is precluded from raising complaints concerning irregularities in the trial court signing certain documents pursuant to TEX. CODE CRIM. PRO. ANN. arts. 1.13 and 1.15 (Vernon Supp.2000).

Procedural History

In 1996, appellant originally entered a plea of guilty to the offense of burglary of a habitation. A plea bargain agreement was not reached. The trial court deferred the adjudication of guilt and placed appellant on community supervision for eight years. At the 1997 hearing on the State’s motion to adjudicate guilt, appellant entered pleas of true to the allegations that he violated the terms and conditions of his community supervision. The trial court found that appellant had violated the terms and conditions of his community supervision, revoked his community supervision, adjudicated his guilt, and assessed a sentence of confinement for 10 years. The trial court determined that it was in appellant’s best interest to suspend the imposition of the sentence and placed appellant on “regular” community supervision for 10 years with the requirement that he participate in the S.A.F.P.F. program.

On May 6, 1999, in an unpublished opinion, this court sustained appellant’s contention that the trial court erred by failing to sign his waiver of rights under Article 1.15 and reversed and remanded the case. The Court of Criminal Appeals granted the State’s petition for discretionary review and remanded the case to our court for reconsideration in light of Manuel. Grabowski v. State, No. 1325-99 (Tex.Cr.App., November 22, 1999)(not reported). Appellant has not filed a brief on remand; therefore, we will reexamine the three issues in his brief.

Manuel v. State

In Manuel, the defendant entered a plea of guilty. The adjudication of his guilt was deferred, and he was placed on “deferred” community supervision. The defendant did not perfect an appeal. Later, when his “deferred” community supervision was revoked and his guilt was adjudicated, the defendant perfected an appeal and challenged the sufficiency of evidence to support his guilty plea. The Court of Criminal Appeals stated:

In 1987, Article 44.01(j) was enacted, and it made a significant change in deferred adjudication law. We have determined that the legislative intent in enacting Article 44.01(j) was to permit defendants to appeal from deferred adjudication community supervision to the same extent (i.e., with the same rights [597]*597and restrictions) as defendants are permitted to appeal from “regular” community supervision. Feagin v. State, 967 S.W.2d 417, 419 n. 2 (Tex.Crim.App.1998); Watson v. State, 924 S.W.2d 711, 714 (Tex.Crim.App.1996); Kirby v. State, 883 S.W.2d 669, 671 n. 3 (Tex.Crim.App.1994); Dillehey v. State, 815 S.W.2d 623, 625 (Tex.Crim.App.1991).
We have long held that a defendant placed on “regular” community supervision may raise issues relating to the conviction, such as evidentiary sufficiency, only in appeals taken when community supervision is originally imposed. Whetstone v. State, 786 S.W.2d 361, 363 (Tex.Crim.App.1990); Traylor v. State, 561 S.W.2d 492, 494 (Tex.Crim.App.1978); Patterson v. State, 487. S.W.2d 736, 737 (Tex.Crim.App.1972); Pitts v. State, 442 S.W.2d 389, 390 (Tex.Crim.App.1969); Gossett v. State, 162 Tex.Crim. 52, 282 S.W.2d 59, 62 (1955). That is, such issues may not be raised in appeals filed after “regular” community supervision is revoked. Given the legislative intent behind Article 44.01(j), we now hold that this rule also applies in the deferred adjudication context. In other words, a defendant placed on deferred adjudication community supervision may raise issues relating to the original plea proceeding, such as eviden-tiary sufficiency, only in appeals taken when deferred adjudication community supervision is first imposed. (Footnote omitted)

The Manuel court then held that, by failing to appeal at the time he was placed on “deferred” community supervision, the defendant could not now challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support his original guilty plea in his appeal from the subsequent order adjudicating guilt and revoking his supervision.

Manuel limits the collateral attacks which may be raised on the original guilty plea where the adjudication of guilt is initially deferred and an appeal is not perfected until a subsequent judgment revoking “deferred” community supervision and adjudicating guilt is entered. Traditionally, collateral attacks are limited to issues which render the underlying judgment void and are not allowed to challenge irregularities that might render the judgment voidable. Ex parte Sadberry, 864 S.W.2d 541 (Tex.Cr.App.1993); Galloway v. State, 578 S.W.2d 142 (Tex.Cr.App.1979); Ex parte Shields, 550 S.W.2d 670 (Tex.Cr.App.1976). Errors, which if raised on direct appeal would have resulted in a reversal, are not automatically subject to collateral attack. Galloway v. State, supra. We note that the court, in Manuel, was concerned only with the sufficiency of the evidence to support the underlying guilty plea and that the voluntariness of the plea was not an issue.

Appellant’s Arguments on Appeal

In three issues, appellant attacks his 1996 plea of guilty. In his first and third issues, appellant contends that the trial court’s failure to sign the “written plea admonishments” form beneath appellant’s signature was reversible error.1 In his second issue, appellant argues that his guilty plea was not freely and voluntarily entered. We will first address his challenges to the trial court’s failure to sign the admonishment form.

Irregularities in the Written Admonishment Form

The record reflects that the trial court did not sign the preprinted form in the appropriate places and that no objection was made. This failure to sign does not render the action of the trial court void but rather is an irregularity which at best would render the trial court’s action voidable. Violations of Article 1.13 have not been subject to collateral attack. Ex parte [598]*598Sadberry, supra; Robinson v. State, 739 S.W.2d 795 (Tex.Cr.App.1987); State v. Garcia, 905 S.W.2d 7 (Tex.App. — San Antonio 1995, pet’n refd). While the failure of the trial court to sign as required by Article 1.15 is reversible error when raised on direct appeal under McClain v.

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Bluebook (online)
27 S.W.3d 594, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 5763, 2000 WL 1230589, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grabowski-v-state-texapp-2000.