Michael Denton v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: May 19, 2023
• Docket: 07-23-00189-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The Court of Appeals Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo

No. 07-23-00188-CR No. 07-23-00189-CR No. 07-23-00190-CR

MICHAEL DENTON, APPELLANT

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE

On Appeal from the 31st District Court Roberts County, Texas Trial Court No. 772, 774, 775, Honorable Steven Ray Emmert, Presiding

May 19, 2023 MEMORANDUM OPINION Before PARKER and DOSS and YARBROUGH, JJ.

Pursuant to a plea-bargain agreement, Appellant, Michael Denton, was convicted

of continuous violence against a family member1 and two counts of tampering with a

witness.2 The trial court sentenced Appellant to concurrent sentences of fourteen years’

1 See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 25.11(e). 2 See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 36.05(e-1). confinement. Appellant now appeals his convictions, proceeding pro se. We dismiss the

untimely appeals for want of jurisdiction and because Appellant has no right of appeal.

The timely filing of a written notice of appeal is a jurisdictional prerequisite to

hearing an appeal. Castillo v. State, 369 S.W.3d 196, 198 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012); TEX.

R. APP. P. 26.2(a). If a notice of appeal is not timely filed, an appellate court has no option

but to dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. Castillo, 369 S.W.3d at 198.

Here, the trial court sentenced Appellant on March 23, 2022. Because no motion

for new trial was filed, a notice of appeal was due within thirty days after sentencing, by

April 22, 2022. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a). Appellant filed a notice of appeal over a year

later, on May 4, 2023, with a motion for an extension of time to file the late appeals. This

Court does not have the authority to grant such a request. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.3

(authorizing appellate courts to grant a fifteen-day extension to file a notice of appeal).

Instead, Appellant may seek an out-of-time appeal by filing an application for writ of

habeas corpus returnable to the Court of Criminal Appeals for consideration. See TEX.

CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 11.07. Because we cannot grant Appellant’s requested

extension, we deny his motion and must dismiss his appeals for want of jurisdiction.

Furthermore, under Rule of Appellate Procedure 25.2(d), we are required to

dismiss an appeal “if a certification that shows the defendant has the right of appeal has

not been made part of the record.” The trial court’s certifications of Appellant’s right of

appeal indicate that these are plea-bargain cases with no right of appeal and that

Appellant has waived the right of appeal.

2 Accordingly, we dismiss Appellant’s appeals for want of jurisdiction and based on

the trial court’s certifications.

Per Curiam

Do not publish.