Jesse Allen Griffin v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: May 31, 2023
• Docket: 09-22-00074-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

________________ NO. 09-22-00074-CR NO. 09-22-00075-CR ________________

JESSE ALLEN GRIFFIN, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

________________________________________________________________________

On Appeal from the 128th District Court Orange County, Texas Trial Cause Nos. A200433-R and A200436-R ________________________________________________________________________

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Jesse Allen Griffin pled guilty to two counts of intoxication manslaughter. See

Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 49.08(b). Under the terms of the plea, Griffin made no

agreement regarding punishment. After a bench trial regarding punishment only, the

trial court sentenced Griffin to 14 years’ incarceration for each count, to run

consecutively.

1 In three issues on appeal, Griffin argues that the trial court violated article

26.13 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, the trial court misled him by

misinforming him of the correct punishment range, and his plea was involuntary.

The State concedes error as to the first issue. The State agrees that Griffin’s

conviction and sentence should be reversed and remanded for a new trial.

Per Griffin’s written plea admonishments, Griffin was advised by the trial

court that since he was pleading guilty to a third-degree felony, he faced a

punishment range of “[a] term of not more than 10 years or less than 2 years in

TDCJ[.]” The trial court then sentenced Griffin to 14 years’ incarceration. This

sentence is in violation of Article 26.13(a)(1) of the Texas Code of Criminal

Procedure that requires a defendant in a “plea of guilty…shall” be admonished of

“the range of punishment attached to the offense.” See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann.

art. 26.13.

We sustain Griffin’s first issue; we reverse and remand the judgments of the

court for a new trial.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

________________________________ JAY WRIGHT Justice Submitted on May 18, 2023 Opinion Delivered May 31, 2023 Do Not Publish

Before Horton, Johnson, and Wright, JJ. 2