Willeford v. State

625 S.W.2d 88, 1981 Tex. App. LEXIS 4453
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided November 25, 1981·No. No. 2-81-180-CR·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

OPINION

JORDAN, Justice.

Appellant, after entering a plea of nolo contendere, was found guilty by the trial court of theft of property of the value of $200 or more but less than $10,000 and sentenced to six years in the Texas Department of Corrections.

He appeals on four grounds of error. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

In his ground of error number one appellant contends that the trial court erred in erroneously apprising him of the effect of his plea of nolo contendere when he was [89] informed he could appeal the pre-trial motion to suppress. Appellant had filed and the court heard his motion to suppress evidence in this case which he says resulted from an illegal search. The motion to suppress was overruled by the court, but the court expressly gave permission to appellant to appeal the matter of the pre-trial motion to suppress. Prior to 1977 it had long been held that a valid plea of guilty or nolo contendere waived all nonjurisdictional defects. A corollary to this holding was the rule that it was error to accept a “conditional plea”, that is, a plea of nolo contendere or guilty entered with the understanding that the defendant could appeal the pre-trial rulings. See Chavarria v. State, 425 S.W.2d 822 (Tex.Cr.App.1968).

However, in 1977, the Legislature in V.A. C.C.P. art. 44.02 provided as follows: A defendant in any criminal action has the right of appeal under the rules hereinafter prescribed, provided, however, before the defendant who has been convicted upon either his plea of guilty or plea of nolo con-tendere before the court, upon the election of the defendant, assesses punishment and the punishment does not exceed the punishment recommended by the prosecutor and agreed to by the defendant and his attorney may prosecute his appeal, he must have permission of the trial court, except on those matters which have been raised by written motion filed prior to trial.

Following the effective date of this Act, it has been held that if the requisites of V.A.C.C.P. art. 44.02 are met that certain pre-trial matters may be appealed even though a plea of guilty or nolo contendere has been entered. Thus, in Ferguson v. State, 571 S.W.2d 908 (Tex.Cr.App.1978), where the record affirmatively reflected that the punishment was assessed at the amount recommended by the prosecutor and by his attorney and that the trial court had expressly given permission to appellant to bring this appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeals had jurisdiction of the case. In Ferguson, as in this case, the pre-trial matter involved a motion to suppress evidence seized pursuant to a search warrant. In Galitz v. State, 617 S.W.2d 949 (Tex.Cr.App. 1981), again appellant had attacked the legality of a search warrant, and had appealed on that pre-trial matter after pleading guilty. The court set out requirements of V.A.C.C.P. art. 44.02 necessary to be met before a defendant can appeal a pre-trial matter after pleading guilty or nolo conten-dere. The court said that “Absent the showing of all three of these jurisdictional requisites there is no power extant in this Court to take cognizance of issues ‘appealed’ by appellants so situated.” The court cited Ferguson, among other eases, for this proposition.

The situation confronting the trial court in Galitz, supra, was strikingly similar to that of this case, as shown by this language of the court in Galitz: “In the instant case, however, nothing was admitted into evidence other than the transcribed examining trial testimony of the officers who escorted, arrested and ultimately searched appellant. Because this evidence was both a fruit of the contested search, and the only evidence which supplied proof of every element of the offense, appellant has preserved his right to have this court determine the merits of his pretrial motion to suppress evidence in the felony case, and we so hold.” The trial court had expressly given permission to appeal the legality of the search, and the court said: “We hold the trial court’s consent to appeal the issue involving the search in the misdemeanor case invoked the jurisdiction of this Court to consider it pursuant to the patent provisions of Article 44.02, supra, and the failure to file a written pretrial motion to suppress was therefore inconsequential.”

We hold, therefore, that the trial court in this case did not mislead or misinform appellant with respect to his plea of nolo contendere. He can appeal and has appealed. His plea was made and entered and the court thereafter expressly gave appellant permission to appeal the search warrant question. Here, the requirements of art. 44.02 were all met: 1, there was a plea bargaining agreement with the state; 2, punishment was assessed by the trial court [90] within that period recommended by the trial court and agreed to personally by the defendant, and 3, the trial court gave permission to pursue an appeal on the search warrant issue. If appellant cannot appeal this pre-trial matter under these circumstances, V.A.C.C.P. art. 44.02 is meaningless.

By his second ground of error appellant complains that the trial court erred in accepting the conditional plea of nolo conten-dere. Appellant apparently believes that his plea of nolo contendere waived his right to appeal the pre-trial motion to suppress the evidence from the search of his premises, and that the court was therefore in error in accepting the plea. He is incorrect in this belief. The trial court, as pointed out in the discussion under ground of error number one, expressly gave appellant permission to appeal the pretrial ruling on his motion to suppress, as authorized by V.A.C. C.P. art. 44.02. In arguing this point appellant relies on Wooten v. State, 612 S.W.2d 561 (Tex.Cr.App.1981). This reliance is misplaced because in Wooten the appellant was prevented from appealing the court’s ruling on his motion under the Speedy Trial Act by the Act itself. V.A.C.C.P. art. 32A.02. The court held that because of this, the trial court was in error in telling appellant he could appeal the pre-trial ruling on the Speedy Trial Act. In this case there is no such bar to an appeal of the ruling on the pre-trial motion to suppress the evidence resulting from an alleged illegal search. The trial court gave permission to appellant to bring this appeal. We therefore have jurisdiction of the case and proceed to consider appellant’s complaints of the trial court’s overruling his motion to suppress. Ferguson v. State, supra, Galitz v. State, supra. See also Young v. State, 622 S.W.2d 582 (Tex.Cr.App.1981).

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Willeford v. State, 625 S.W.2d 88, 1981 Tex. App. LEXIS 4453 (Tex. Ct. App. 1981).

625 S.W.2d 88 (Willeford v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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