in Re Commitment of John Graves

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: September 28, 2017
• Docket: 09-17-00287-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont ____________________ NO. 09-17-00287-CV ____________________

IN RE COMMITMENT OF JOHN GRAVES

________________________________________________________________________

On Appeal from the 435th District Court Montgomery County, Texas Trial Cause No. 12-05-05201-CV ________________________________________________________________________

MEMORANDUM OPINION

John Graves was civilly committed in 2012. See generally In re Commitment

of Graves, No. 09-13-00141-CV, 2013 WL 6705980, at *1 (Tex. App.—Beaumont

Dec. 19, 2013, pet. denied) (mem. op.). On June 15, 2017, the trial court signed a

biennial review order that continued the previous order of civil commitment without

modification. Graves filed a notice of appeal. We questioned our jurisdiction and

asked the parties to file responses regarding whether the appeal was frivolous. The

State filed responses but no response has been filed by Graves.

A biennial review order continuing a person’s civil commitment is not an

appealable order. See In re Commitment of Richards, 395 S.W.3d 905, 908–10 (Tex.

App.—Beaumont 2013, pet. denied). Graves has not identified an order that is

appealable at this time.

“To determine whether an appeal is objectively frivolous, we review the

record from the viewpoint of the advocate and decide whether the advocate had

reasonable grounds to believe the case could be reversed.” Glassman v. Goodfriend,

347 S.W.3d 772, 782 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2011, pet. denied). Graves

has not presented any authority contrary to Richards nor has he presented any

argument that Richards was wrongly decided and should be overruled. We conclude

that the appeal is frivolous. See Tex. R. App. P. 45. In the event Graves files a

frivolous appeal with this Court in the future, the Court will consider imposing

sanctions. See id.

The appeal is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 42.3(a);

43.2(f).

APPEAL DISMISSED.

________________________________ CHARLES KREGER Justice

Submitted on September 27, 2017 Opinion Delivered September 28, 2017

Before McKeithen, C.J., Kreger and Johnson, JJ.