Michael Clifford Singleton v. the State of Texas

Opinion

In the

Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth

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No. 02-25-00160-CR

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MICHAEL CLIFFORD SINGLETON, Appellant V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS

On Appeal from County Criminal Court No. 10 Tarrant County, Texas

Trial Court No. 1831930

Before Sudderth, C.J.; Kerr and Birdwell, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Chief justice Sudderth

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant Michael Clifford Singleton attempts to appeal from an order granting his plea in bar, i.e., an order that bars his prosecution for the underlying misdemeanor offense. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 12.45 (barring prosecution of offense when defendant—with the State’s agreement—admits guilt and requests that court consider his guilt in assessing his sentence for another offense); Hilburn v. State, 946 S.W.2d 885, 886 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 1997, no pet.) (per curiam) (explaining that, “[i]f an unadjudicated offense is admitted before the trial court, and the court agrees to a defendant’s request to take that offense into account when assessing punishment for some other offense(s), [then] the defendant is granted a plea in bar, and there can be no prosecution for the unadjudicated offense”). But “we do not have jurisdiction to hear a purported appeal from a judgment granting a plea in bar.” Hilburn, 946 S.W.2d at 886; see Graham-O’Dell v. State, No. 02-23-00264-CR, 2023 WL 7210161, at *1 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Nov. 2, 2023, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication); Courtney v. State, Nos. 02-22-00161-CR, 02-22-00162-CR, 2022 WL 17494604, at *1 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Dec. 8, 2022, no pet.) (per curiam) (mem. op., not designated for publication).

Given this jurisdictional flaw, we sent Singleton a letter warning that we could dismiss his appeal unless, within ten days, he showed grounds for continuing it. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.3. More than ten days have passed, and we have not received a response.

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Therefore, we dismiss Singleton’s appeal for want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R.

App. P. 43.2(f); Graham-O’Dell, 2023 WL 7210161, at *1; Courtney, 2022 WL 17494604, at *1; Hilburn, 946 S.W.2d at 886.

/s/ Bonnie Sudderth

Bonnie Sudderth

Chief Justice

Do Not Publish Tex.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

Delivered: June 26, 2025