Marvin Lee Alexander v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: September 10, 2009
• Docket: 14-08-00456-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

Dismissed and Memorandum Opinion filed September 10, 2009.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals

____________

NO. 14-08-00456-CR

MARVIN LEE ALEXANDER, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 174th District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 1129388

M E M O R A N D U M   O P I N I O N

Appellant Marvin Lee Alexander, on September 20, 2007, pleaded guilty, without an agreed recommendation from the State, to possession of a controlled substance.  The trial court deferred adjudication of guilt and placed Alexander on deferred-adjudication community supervision for five years.  On October 30, 2007, the State filed a motion to adjudicate guilt.  After a hearing, the trial court found Alexander guilty and assessed punishment at confinement for eight years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.  On appeal, Alexander contends that his Aguilty@ plea to the original charge was not made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily.  Because we have no jurisdiction to consider the voluntariness of Alexander=s original plea of guilty after the trial court has adjudicated his guilt, we dismiss for want of jurisdiction.

A defendant placed on deferred adjudication community supervision may raise issues relating to the original plea proceeding, such as voluntariness, only in appeals taken when deferred adjudication is first imposed.  Manuel v. State, 994 S.W.2d 658, 661B62 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999).  Because Alexander did not appeal his conviction and sentence until after the trial court adjudicated his guilt and revoked his community supervision, we have no jurisdiction to entertain his appeal.  See id. at 662.

Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.

/s/      Jeffrey V. Brown

Justice

Panel consists of Justices Frost, Brown, and Boyce.

Do Not Publish C Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b).