Jonathan Blandon v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: August 8, 2024
• Docket: 01-24-00182-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

Opinion issued August 8, 2024

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-24-00182-CR ——————————— JONATHAN BLANDON, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 176th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 1784833

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant, Jonathan Blandon, was charged with the first-degree felony

offense of aggravated sexual assault. Pursuant to a plea bargain agreement with the

State, appellant pleaded guilty to the reduced second-degree felony offense of sexual

assault, with an agreed punishment recommendation of three years’ incarceration. The trial court accepted the plea agreement, found appellant guilty of the offense of

sexual assault, and assessed punishment at three years’ incarceration. The trial court

certified that this case is a plea-bargain case and appellant has no right of appeal.

Appellant, acting pro se, filed a notice of appeal. We dismiss the appeal.

In a plea-bargain case, a defendant may only appeal those matters that were

raised by written motion filed and ruled on before trial or after getting the trial court's

permission to appeal. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art. 44.02; TEX. R. APP. P.

25.2(a)(2). An appeal must be dismissed if a certification showing that the defendant

has the right of appeal has not been made part of the record. TEX. R. APP.

P. 25.2(d); see Dears v. State, 154 S.W.3d 610, 613 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005). Here,

the clerk’s record supports the trial court’s certification that this is a plea-

bargain case and that appellant has no right of appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 25.2(a)(2),

(d); Dears, 154 S.W.3d at 615. Because appellant has no right of appeal, we must

dismiss this appeal without further action. See Chavez v. State, 183 S.W.3d 675, 680

(Tex. Crim. App. 2006) (“A court of appeals, while having jurisdiction to ascertain

whether an appellant who plea-bargained is permitted to appeal by Rule 25.2(a),

must dismiss a prohibited appeal without further action, regardless of the basis for

the appeal.”).

Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal for lack of jurisdiction. We dismiss any

pending motions as moot.

2 PER CURIAM

Panel consists of Justices Kelly, Landau, and Rivas-Molloy.

Do not publish. TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).