Seals, Ex Parte Gary Allan

• Court: Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
• Decided: August 30, 2006
• Docket: AP-75,486
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS

OF TEXAS

NO. AP-75,486 EX PARTE GARY ALLAN SEALS, Applicant

ON APPLICATION FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

CAUSE NO. 21277-A IN THE 42ND DISTRICT COURT

FROM TAYLOR COUNTY

Per curiam.

O P I N I O N

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 11.07 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, the clerk of the trial court transmitted to this Court this application for writ of habeas corpus. Ex parte Young, 418 S.W.2d 824, 826 (Tex. Crim. App. 1967). Applicant was convicted of burglary of a building and sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment. The Eleventh Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction. Seals v. State, No. 11-05-00009-CR (Tex. App. - Eastland, November 17, 2005, no pet.)

Applicant contends that he was denied the right to petition this Court for discretionary review, because the letter from Applicant to appellate counsel informing counsel that Applicant wanted counsel to file a petition for discretionary review was not timely sent by the TDCJ mail room.

Appellate counsel filed an affidavit with the trial court. Based on that affidavit, the trial court has entered findings of fact and conclusions of law that Applicant was denied the opportunity to file a petition for discretionary review through no fault of his own. The trial court recommends that relief be granted. We find, therefore, that Applicant is entitled to the opportunity to file an out-of-time petition for discretionary review of the judgment of the Eleventh Court of Appeals in Cause No. 11-05-00009-CR that affirmed his conviction in Case No. 21,277-A from the 42nd Judicial District Court of Taylor County, Texas. Applicant shall file his petition for discretionary review with the Eleventh Court of Appeals within 30 days of the date on which this Court's mandate issues.

Delivered: August 30, 2006

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