Jason Jacob Osifo v. the State of Texas

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided December 30, 2022·No. 05-20-00754-CR·Published

Opinion

Affirmed as Modified and Opinion Filed December 30, 2022

In The

Court of Appeals

Fifth District of Texas at Dallas 05-20-00750-CR

05-20-00751-CR

05-20-00752-CR

05-20-00753-CR

05-20-00754-CR

JASON JACOB OSIFO, Appellant V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 296th Judicial District Court Collin County, Texas

Trial Court Cause Nos. 296-81128-2020, 296-81129-2020, 296-81394-2016, 296-82063-2017, 296-82064-2015

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Justices Partida-Kipness, Pedersen, III, and Nowell Opinion by Justice Pedersen, III In this appeal from five judgments entered after a non-jury proceeding,

appellant brings three issues concerning (1) whether a 2018 plea to aggravated robbery was voluntarily and knowingly made; (2) duplicate costs; and (3) “time payment” fees. The State brings a cross-point and urges that we modify the judgments in two of appellant’s cases to accurately reflect sentences orally

pronounced from the bench. We sustain the State’s cross-point and affirm the two judgments as modified. We affirm the remaining three judgments.

Procedural Background

In 2020, the trial court disposed of five cases against appellant in one proceeding.1 We review the judgments of these five cases.

Based on appellant’s pleas of guilty at the 2020 hearing, the trial court found appellant guilty in two cases. The trial court revoked community supervision in two cases in which appellant had been placed on probation. And the trial court adjudicated appellant’s guilt in another case in which appellant had been placed on deferred adjudication community supervision.

Judgments in two cases resulted in appellant’s convictions for unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, trial cause number 296-81129-2020, and for possession of a controlled substance, trial cause number 296-81128-2020. Appellant pleaded guilty to the two offenses. The trial court sentenced appellant to confinement in both cases. Appellant appeals here from these two judgments.

The trial judge was familiar with appellant’s remaining three cases. In one of those cases—aggravated robbery, trial cause number 296-82063-2017—the trial court had previously deferred adjudication of guilt and placed appellant on

1 Appellate cause number 05-20-00750-CR corresponds with trial cause number 296-81128-2020; 05-

20-00751-CR with 296-81129-2020; 05-20-00752-CR with 296-81394-2016; 05-20-00753-CR with 296- 82063-2017; and 05-20-00754-CR with 296-82964-2015.

community supervision. In the other two cases—burglary of a habitation, trial cause number 296-81394-2016, and misdemeanor assault, trial cause number 296-81394- 2016—the trial court had previously sentenced appellant to confinement, ordered appellant’s “shock probation,” and then sentenced appellant to probation and community supervision. At the July 2020 hearing, appellant pleaded true to the state’s allegations in its motion to adjudicate guilt and its motions to revoke probation. The trial court sentenced appellant to confinement in each of these three cases. Appellant also appeals here from these three judgments.

Appellant’s First Issue: 2018 Guilty Plea Appellant frames his first issue as follows:

The trial court failed to meet its obligations under Tex. Code Crim.

Proc. Art. 1.15 to ensure that Appellant’s plea to the underlying charge was knowingly and voluntarily given when presented with evidence showing Appellant was not, in fact, guilty of the aggravated robbery to which he pleaded. Because the plea was not knowingly and voluntarily given, the Order of Deferred Adjudication is void, and no later adjudication can be taken from it.

Appellant’s first issue is relevant to his 2020 adjudication of guilt and sentence for aggravated robbery from which he appeals here. As noted, the trial court had previously deferred adjudication and placed appellant on community supervision for this offense, as recited in the 2018 order of deferred adjudication. The 2018 order included a deadly weapon finding for use of a firearm. Appellant’s first issue concerns his guilty plea to aggravated robbery in the 2018 proceeding.

The State casts appellant’s first issue as: “Appellant claims that his underlying guilty plea in his aggravated robbery case was not supported by sufficient evidence and was not entered voluntarily and knowingly.” The State argues we do not have jurisdiction to address appellant’s “collateral attacks.”

Background

At the 2018 hearing, the aggravated-robbery victim, who was attempting to deliver a pizza when robbed at gunpoint, testified appellant did not hold a firearm and did not threaten him during the robbery. Appellant insisted he had no knowledge that a participant in the robbery, Ty-Ty, intended to rob the victim or that Ty-Ty would use a firearm to facilitate the robbery. Appellant’s co-defendant testified Ty- Ty said the pizza would be “on her.” But there was testimony that appellant took the pizza box from the victim and warned Ty-Ty of an approaching vehicle. The trial court deferred a finding of guilt and placed appellant on community supervision for ten years. The trial court entered a deadly weapon finding in its judgment. The trial court certified that appellant had a right to appeal. Appellant failed to appeal from the 2018 order of deferred adjudication.

The 2020 proceeding included the trial court’s adjudication of whether appellant had violated terms and conditions related to his 2018 order of deferred adjudication for aggravated robbery. The trial court asked appellant if the State’s allegations were true or not true. Appellant asked whether the trial court remembered appellant’s stating at the 2018 hearing that appellant did not possess the firearm

during the aggravated robbery of the pizza delivery person. The trial court responded:

[W]e are not here to talk about or argue at all about that case because that’s already been done. The State has now said that you violated the terms and conditions of your probation while you were on probation for aggravated robbery.

Appellant entered an open plea of “true.” The trial court found the State’s allegations to be true, adjudicated appellant’s guilt, and sentenced appellant to thirteen years in prison. The judgment recited that appellant had the right to appeal punishment only.

Discussion

Appellant contends that “no evidence” supported the deadly weapon finding in the 2018 aggravated robbery order. Appellant cites article 1.15 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, which provides, in part: “[I]n no event shall a person charged be convicted upon his plea without sufficient evidence to support the same.” TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 1.15. Appellant argues that in any guilty plea, the “sufficient evidence” requirement of article 1.15 is absolute.

However, appellant failed to appeal from the 2018 order. Appellant cannot dispute the sufficiency of the 2018 order on appeal from revocation, as he attempts here. “A defendant must raise issues relating to the original plea proceeding, including evidentiary sufficiency, only in a timely appeal taken when deferred- adjudication community supervision is first imposed.” Perez v. State, 424 S.W.3d 81, 86 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014). “Sufficiency challenges, like those raised under

Article 1.15, cannot be raised on appeal from revocation.” See Fox v. State, No. 02- 19-00240-CR, 2020 WL 579111, at *2 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Feb. 6, 2020, pet. ref’d) (mem. op., not designated for publication) (noting, “Thus, to the extent that Fox disputes the sufficiency of her judicial confession under Article 1.15, her challenge cannot be considered on appeal from revocation.”). We reject appellant’s no-evidence argument.

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