Michael J. Gore v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: May 11, 2023
• Docket: 01-22-00420-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

Opinion issued May 11, 2023

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-22-00420-CR ——————————— MICHAEL J. GORE, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 209th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 1473833

MEMORANDUM OPINION

After appellant, Michael Jermaine Gore, pleaded guilty to the felony offense

of compelling prostitution, the trial court deferred adjudication of appellant's guilt

and placed him on community supervision for ten years. The State, alleging

numerous violations of the conditions of appellant's community supervision, subsequently moved to adjudicate guilt. Appellant pleaded “True” to the allegations

in the State’s motion to adjudicate guilt. On December 7, 2018, in accordance with

appellant’s plea agreement with the State, the trial court signed a judgment

adjudicating guilt and sentenced appellant to twelve years’ imprisonment. Appellant,

acting pro se, filed a notice of appeal on May 20, 2022. The State has filed a motion

to dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. We grant the motion and dismiss the

appeal.

In criminal cases, the appellant must file a notice of appeal “within 30 days

after the day sentence is imposed.” TEX. R. APP. P 26.2(a)(1). Because the judgment

appealed was signed on December 7, 2018, appellant’s May 20, 2022 notice of

appeal was filed years after the deadline. If an appeal is not timely perfected, then a

court of appeals does not obtain jurisdiction to address the merits of the appeal and

can take no action other than to dismiss the appeal. See Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d

208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998). Because appellant’s notice of appeal was

untimely, we lack jurisdiction over this appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 25.1.

Moreover, 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. 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.

2 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 grant the State’s motion and dismiss this appeal for lack of

jurisdiction. We dismiss any other pending motions as moot.

PER CURIAM

Panel consists of Chief Justice Adams and Justices Kelly and Goodman.

Do not publish.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