Stephaney Veljean Lafears v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: August 23, 2024
• Docket: 03-24-00335-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

NO. 03-24-00335-CR

Stephaney Veljean Lafears, Appellant

v.

The State of Texas, Appellee

FROM THE COUNTY COURT AT LAW NO. 3 OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY, NO. 23-01350-3, THE HONORABLE DOUG ARNOLD, JUDGE PRESIDING

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant Stephaney Veljean Lafears filed a notice of appeal challenging the trial

court’s purported interlocutory denials 1 of her Amended Motion to Quash Information, Motion

to Dismiss, and Application for Writ of Habeas Corpus. On July 17, 2024, a supplemental

clerk’s record was filed containing plea-bargain documents, an order placing Lafears on

deferred-adjudication community supervision for nine months for assault causing bodily injury,

and the trial court’s certification that Lafears had no right of appeal and had waived the right of

appeal in this case.

We agree that the trial court’s certification is supported by the record. See Dears

v. State, 154 S.W.3d 610, 615 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005) (requiring court of appeals to determine

whether certification is defective when compared to record). As part of her plea bargain, in

1 Although the record before us includes the docket entry, “State’s motion for leave to amend information granted. Motion to quash/dismiss denied,” the record contains no signed written orders from the trial court. See Dewalt v. State, 417 S.W.3d 678, 685 n.32 (Tex. App.— Austin 2013, pet. ref’d) (“A written and signed appealable order is a prerequisite to invoking this Court’s appellate jurisdiction.”). which the State agreed to drop a family-violence finding and recommend a period of nine

months of deferred adjudication, Lafears waived her right “to file a motion for new trial or

appeal [her] case to a court of appeals.” See Marsh v. State, 444 S.W.3d 654, 660 (Tex. Crim.

App. 2014) (explaining that although “Rule 25.2(a)(2)(A) does, in fact, grant defendants who

plead guilty as part of a plea bargain the right to appeal pretrial motions, . . . a defendant may

waive this right, as long as the waiver is made ‘voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently.’”). The

trial court approved the waivers and certified that: (1) this is a plea-bargain case, for which

Lafears had no right of appeal, see Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(a)(2); (2) she waived the right of appeal;

and (3) she also “waive[d] appeal in COA 03-24-00394-CV,” a case in this Court in which

Lafears filed an original habeas application raising the same substantive issue as in her

interlocutory filings. See Ex parte Lafears, No. 03-24-00394-CV, 2024 WL 3088680, at *2

(Tex. App.—Austin June 21, 2024, orig. proceeding).

Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App.

P. 25.2(a)(2), (d).

__________________________________________ Rosa Lopez Theofanis, Justice

Before Justices Baker, Smith, and Theofanis

Dismissed for Want of Jurisdiction

Filed: August 23, 2024

Do Not Publish