in Re Commitment of Robert Leos

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: July 20, 2017
• Docket: 09-17-00185-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont ____________________ NO. 09-17-00185-CV ____________________

IN RE COMMITMENT OF ROBERT LEOS ________________________________________________________________________

On Appeal from the 435th District Court Montgomery County, Texas Trial Cause No. 12-02-01648-CV ________________________________________________________________________

MEMORANDUM OPINION

On May 22, 2017, Robert Leos filed a notice of appeal from an order denying

a motion to appoint an expert to assist Leos in a sexually violent predator

commitment case.1 We questioned our jurisdiction, and Leos and the State filed

replies.

On April 25, 2017, the trial court signed an order denying Leos’s motion to

appoint an expert witness and an order denying Leos’s motion to abate further

1 Leos was civilly committed on July 25, 2012. See generally In re Commitment of Leos, No. 09-12-00523-CV, 2013 WL 5658380, at *1 (Tex. App.— Beaumont Oct. 17, 2013, no pet.) (mem. op.). Leos is seeking to appeal trial court orders incidental to a biennial review of that civil commitment. 1

proceedings in the trial court. Neither order contains language indicating that the

trial court intended to make a final disposition of the civil commitment.

Generally, appeals may be taken only from final judgments. Lehmann v. Har–

Con Corp., 39 S.W.3d 191, 195 (Tex. 2001). Leos neither claims that the trial court

conducted a jury trial regarding his release from civil commitment, nor has he

identified a signed order by the trial court that Leos may appeal as an accelerated

appeal. See generally Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 51.014(a), (d) (West

Supp. 2016). Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed for want of jurisdiction. See Tex.

R. App. P. 42.3(a); 43.2(f).

APPEAL DISMISSED.

________________________________ CHARLES KREGER Justice

Submitted on July 19, 2017 Opinion Delivered July 20, 2017

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