Terry E. McDowell v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: June 1, 2005
• Docket: 04-03-00845-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

No. 04-03-00845-CR

Terry E. MCDOWELL,

Appellant

v.

The STATE of Texas,

Appellee

From the 187th Judicial District Court, Bexar County, Texas

Trial Court No. 1998-CR-1964W

Honorable Raymond Angelini, Judge Presiding

Opinion by:    Rebecca Simmons, Justice

Sitting:            Catherine Stone, Justice

Sarah B. Duncan, Justice

Rebecca Simmons, Justice

Delivered and Filed: June 1, 2005

AFFIRMED

            Terry E. McDowell was charged with possession of marijuana. Pursuant to a plea bargain agreement, McDowell was placed on deferred adjudication community supervision. On November 4, 2003, McDowell’s guilt was adjudicated, but she was again placed on community supervision. On November 7, 2003, McDowell filed a pro se notice of appeal. On December 9, 2003, McDowell appeared with her appointed attorney before the trial court and requested that she be sentenced because she did not want to comply with a condition of her community supervision, namely participating in the DAPVF Facility’s program. The trial court imposed sentence but reduced the sentence to one year in state jail.

            At the December 9, 2003 hearing, McDowell’s attorney stated that McDowell wanted to withdraw her appeal; however, no further action was taken with regard to the appeal. When no appellant’s brief was filed, we abated this appeal and remanded the case to the trial court to consider appellate counsel’s motion to withdraw. Appellate counsel represented to the trial court that McDowell had served her time and was released from the state jail. Prior to her release, appellate counsel spoke with McDowell, and McDowell informed appellate counsel that she wanted to waive her appeal. After McDowell was released, she moved from the State of Texas, and appellate counsel stated that she had no means of contacting McDowell.

            Having made every effort to protect McDowell’s rights, we have reviewed the record for unassigned fundamental error and found none. Lott v. State, 874 S.W.2d 687, 688 (Tex. Crim. App. 1994); Carroll v. State, 75 S.W.3d 633, 634 (Tex. App.—Waco 2002, no pet.). Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's judgment.

DO NOT PUBLISH