### TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

NO. 03

- 19

- 00468

- CR

Tutankhamun Holt, Appellant

v.
The State of Texas, Appellee

FROM THE 27TH DISTRI CT COURT OF BELL COU NTY NO. 76732, THE HONORABLE JOHN GAUNTT , JUDGE PRESIDING

M E M O R A N D U M O P I N I O N

A ppellant Tutankhamun Holt filed a notice of appeal in this Court giving written
notice of appeal in connection with a post

- conviction motion to comp el that he filed in the trial

court

. 1 

### For the reasons that follow , w e dismiss the appe al for want o f jurisdict ion

.

In crim inal cases, this Court has jurisd iction to consider appeals from the entry of
an appealable order. See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2; Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 44.0 2; see also Tex.

R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1). Howeve r, there must be a written, signed order from which to appeal. See

1 Appellant was convicted of aggravated ki dnapping
, s ee Tex. Penal Code § 2 0 .04
, and senten ced to life in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
, see id

. § 12.32. Seve n months later, he filed a motion in the trial court entitle d Motion t o Compel Attorney [Stand

- by Counsel ] t o Su rrender t he Case File a nd Cel l Phones Subp oenaed i n Cause Number 76732 , in which he asked the trial court to issue an order compel ling th e a ttorney who acte d as stand

- by counsel during appellant ’ s jury trial (in which appellant represented himself) to prod uce appellant ’ s case file along wi th cell phone s that
, ac cording to the motion, were subpoe naed for trial but no t
a dmitted into evidence. A ppellant subsequently filed the instant notice of appeal , which “ gives notice of appeal 

### of the Motion t o Compel Atto rney [Stand

- by C ounsel ] 

### t o Surrender t he Case File a nd Cell Phones S ubpoenaed i n Cause Number 7 6732 filed, 21 May 2 019

. ”2

State v. Sanavong xay , 407 S.W.3d 252, 259 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012) ( noting t hat “ precedent
requires that an order be in writing” )

. Here, the record before us contains no written orde r signed
by the trial court denyin g appella nt ’ s motion to compe l

. Thu s, th ere is no entry of any
appealable order

. 2

Moreover, e ven had the trial court signed an order denying appellant’s motion to

comp el
, we find no authority for appel lant to appeal such an o rder

.

In Texas , appeals in a crimin al case are permitted only w hen they are specifically
authorized by statute. State ex rel. Lykos v. Fine , 330 S.W.3d 904, 915 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011);

see Bayl ess v. State , 91 S.W.3d 801, 805 (Tex. Crim. App. 2002) ( s tating that crimin al

defendant ’ s right of appeal “ is a statut orily created right.”)

. Thus, t he standard for determining
whether an appellate court has jurisdiction to hear and determi ne a case “is not whether the
appeal is precluded by law, but whether the appeal is author ized by law.” Blanton v. State
,
369 S.W.3d 894, 9 02 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012) (quoting Abbott v. State, 271 S.W.3d 694, 696

– 97
(Tex. Crim

. App. 2008)); s ee Tex. Const. art. V, § 6( a ) ( provid ing that courts of appeals have
appellate jurisdic tion “under such r estr iction s a nd regulations as may be prescribed by law ” ) ;
Ragston v. State , 424 S.W.3d 49, 52 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014) ( ex plaining that “ [ j ] urisdiction must

2 We observe th at t he record contains a hand

- writt e n notation on what appears to be a post

- it not e attached to the cover letter that a ccompanied appel lant ’ s motion to compel

. T he notation stat es , “I have no jurisdiction to grant the requested relie f

. ” T he trial judge’s in itials and

a stamped date appear beneath the notation

. The record also contain s a letter to appellant from the cour t coordinator th at informs appel lant that t he tr i a l court had reviewed the motion but had

no jurisdiction or auth ority to grant appella nt’ s request. N either the notation n or the l et ter constitutes a written appealabl e order. S ee S tate v

. Sanavongxay
, 407 S.W

. 3d 252
, 258

– 59 ( Tex

. Crim

. App

. 2012 ) (holding that “entered by the court ” under Texas Code of Criminal Proc edure article 44.01(d) “e ncompasses the signing of an order by the trial judge” ) ; State v. Rosenbau m , 81 8 S.W.2 d 398, 401

– 02 (Tex. Crim. App. 1 991) (holding th at for purposes of appeal, trial court “enters” order when judge signs order) ; s ee , e.g. , State v . Kibler , 874 S.W.2d 3 30 (Tex. App.

— Fort W orth 1994, no pet.) ( concluding that m ere n otation of “granted ” at end of motion to suppress, followe d by date and pu rported signature of trial judge, was not appealable order )

.3

be expressly given to the courts of appeals in a statute ” )

. We find no statutory authority granting
appellant th e right to a ppeal the denial of a post

- conviction motion to comp el

.

Finally, the trial court certification in the re cord ref lects that “no order e xits u pon

which an appea l may be predicated. ” We are required to dismiss an appeal “if a certi fication that

shows the defendan t has a right of appeal has not been made part of the record.” See Tex. R.
App. P. 25.2(d); Dears v. State
, 154 S.W.3d 610, 613 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005).

We hold that we lack jurisdiction in this appeal because (1) there is no signed

wr itten order denying appellant ’ s motion to comp el
, see , e.g. , Sanavongxay
, 407 S.W.3d at 259
(affi rming appellate court ’ s dismissal for lack of jurisdiction because there was no written order
from which to appeal), ( 2 ) there i s no statutory aut hority for th e appeal that appellant attempts

here
, see , e.g. , Staley v. State
, 233 S.W.3d 337, 338 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007) ( dismissing a ppea l

because it wa s not authorized by law), and ( 3 ) the record does not contain a certification from the

trial court sh ow ing that ap pellant has the rig ht to appeal, see Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(d).

Accordin gly, we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisd iction. See Tex. R. App. P. 43.2(f).

__________________________________________ Melissa Go odwin , Justice

Before C hief Justice Rose, Justices Goodwin and Kelly

Dismissed for W ant of Jurisdiction

Filed: December 17, 2019

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