Martin Aleman v. State

Opinion

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

NO. 03-14-00576-CR

Martin Aleman, Appellant

v.

The State of Texas, Appellee

FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF COMAL COUNTY, 22 JUDICIAL DISTRICT NO. CR2002-246, HONORABLE JACK H. ROBISON, JUDGE PRESIDING

MEMORANDUM OPINION

In 2002, a jury convicted appellant Martin Aleman of the offense of aggravated robbery, and the district court sentenced him to sixty years’ imprisonment. This Court affirmed the judgment of conviction on appeal.1 Earlier this year, Aleman filed with the district court a pro se “motion for relief from judgment,” which is in substance a motion for judgment nunc pro tunc, as it seeks to correct what Aleman claims are clerical errors in the judgment.2 The district court denied the motion. Aleman has filed a notice of appeal from the district court’s order.

In response, the State has filed a motion to dismiss the appeal, arguing that we lack jurisdiction to review the district court’s order. We agree. “The standard for determining

1 See Aleman v. State, No. 03-02-00651-CR, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 3162 (Tex. App.—Austin Apr. 8, 2004, no pet.).

2 See Blanton v. State, 369 S.W.3d 894, 897-98 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012).

jurisdiction is . . . whether the appeal is authorized by law.”3 In criminal cases, an appeal is authorized only when a trial court “enters a judgment of guilt or other appealable order.”4 An order denying a judgment nunc pro tunc is not an appealable order.5 Accordingly, we grant the State’s motion and dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.

____________________________________________

Bob Pemberton, Justice

Before Justices Puryear, Pemberton, and Field Dismissed for Want of Jurisdiction Filed: October 29, 2014 Do Not Publish

3

Abbott v. State, 271 S.W.3d 694, 696-97 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008) (citing Tex. Const. art. V, § 6(a)).

4

Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(a)(2); see also Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 44.02.

5

See Abbott, 271 S.W.3d at 697; State v. Ross, 953 S.W.2d 748, 752 (Tex. Crim.

App. 1997); Sanchez v. State, 112 S.W.3d 311, 312 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 2003, no pet.); Everett v. State, 82 S.W.3d 735, 735 (Tex. App.—Waco 2002, no pet.); Allen v. State, 20 S.W.3d 164, 165 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2000, no pet.); see also Suarez v. State, No. 03-14-00477-CR, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 10635, at *1 (Tex. App.—Austin Sept. 25, 2014, no pet. h.) (dismissing appeal in similar case).