## In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas

at Fort Worth

___________________________ No. 02

- 17

- 00387

- CR

___________________________

On Appeal from Criminal District Court No. 1

Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. 1388085D Before Meier, Gabriel, and Pittman, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Gabriel 

### R AFID 

### A HMED 

### G HENI 

### O BAIDA 

### , Appellant

V 

### . T HE 

### S TATE OF 

### T EXAS2 MEMORANDUM OPINION Appellant Rafid Ahmed Gheni Obaida appeals from the judgment adjudicating his guilt after he violated the terms of his community supervision. In a sole issue, he argues that his initial guilty plea to the underlying offense was involuntar y based on incorrect sentencing admonishments, ren dering the subsequent adjudication a nullity. Because Obaida may not attack his prior guilty plea in an appea l f rom the subsequent adjudication proceeding, we affi rm the trial court’s judgment adjudicating his guilt
. On December 4, 2014, a grand jury indicted Obaida with intentionally or knowingly causing bodily injury to an elderly individual , a third

- degree felon y . See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 22.04(a) , (f) (West Supp. 2018 ). During the proceedings, Obaida’s mental health became an issue, leading to a court

- ordered competency examination, a judgment of mental incompetency, and a subsequent return to competency. O n October 12, 2015, shortly after he was declared competent, Obaida pleaded guilty under a plea

- bargain agreement with the State. The written plea admonishments reflect that the trial court instructed Obaida that the charged offense carried a “third degre e felony enhanced” punishment range

— two to twenty years’ confinement

— instead of t he correct range applicable to the charged third

- degree felony

— two to ten years’ confinement. See Tex. Penal C ode Ann. §§ 12.33

– .34 (West 2011 ), § 12.42 (West Supp. 2018 )
. I n accordance with the State and Obaida’s plea

bargain agreement, the trial court accepted Obaida’s plea, deferred adj udicating his guilt, and placed him on three years’ community supervision. The trial court certified3

that Obaida had no right to appeal th e deferred

- adjudication order
. See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(a)(2), (d). On May 5, 2017, the State filed a petition to adjudicate Obaida’ s guilt , alleging that he had committed a new offense while on community supervision, had failed to report to the commun ity

- supervision department, and had failed to pay the required community

- supervision fees. Again, Obaida’s competency was questioned and he was committed until he was restored to competency on October 27, 2017. On November 6, 2017, the trial court held an evidentiary hearing on the allegations in the State’s petition to adjudicate, to which Obaida pleaded not true
. A fter the State and Obaida presented witness testimony , the trial court continued the hearing until November 13 so the State could secure t he presence of two additional witnesses. On November 13, Obaida filed a motion to set aside his prior gu ilty plea and argued that the trial court’s 2015 punishment

- range admonishments were incorrect, rendering his guilty plea involuntary
. The trial court concluded the hearing on the State’s petition on No vember 13 but continued its decision until November 15 to allow the State to respond to Obaida’s motion to set aside. On November 15, Obaid a testified that his 2015 guilty plea had been “force[d]” becaus e his attorney counseled him that the alternative would be a ten

- year sentence. The trial court denied Obaida’s motion to set aside. The trial court then found that Obaida had violated the conditions of his community supervision by committing a new offen se and by failing to report , adjudged him guilty of injury to an elderly individual, and4

sentenced him to two years’ confinement. The trial court certified that Obaida had the right to appeal the adjudicati on of his guilt . Obaida’s motion for new trial w as deemed denied , and he noticed his int ent to appeal the trial court’s judgment
. See Tex. R. App. P. 21 .8(c). On appeal, Obaida argues that his 2015 guilty plea was involuntary based on the trial court’s incorrect admonishments regarding the applicabl e punishment range , which was harmful based on his history of mental incompetence
. Obaida’s issue is directed s olely to the validity of the deferred

- adjudication order
. The general rule is that a defendant placed on deferred adjudication community superv ision may not raise issues related to the original plea in an appeal from a subsequent adjudi cation proceeding
. See Manuel v. State , 994 S.W.2d 658, 661

– 62 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999). There are two historical exceptions to this rule: (1) the void

- judgment

e xception and (2) the habeas

- corpus exception. See Wright v. State , 506 S.W.3d 478, 481 (Tex. Crim. App. 2016). A defendant’s claim that his original guilty plea was involunt ary does not render the order placing him on deferred adjudication community supe rvision void. See Nix v. State , 65 S.W.3d 664, 667

– 69 (Tex. Crim. App. 2001); Jordan v. State , 54 S.W.3d 783, 785 (Tex. Crim. App. 2001); Balderamos v. State , No. 02

- 13

- 00121

- CR, 2014 WL 982352, at *2 (Tex. App.

— Fort Worth Mar. 13, 2014, no pet.) (mem. op ., not designated for publication). Because Obaida does not raise a claim that would render the deferred

- adjudication judgment void, he canno t5

now attack that judgment in his appeal from the adjudication judgment under the void

- judgment exception
. The hab eas - corpus exception, to the extent it remains valid, recognizes that “a claim that a sentence is il legal may be raised at any time. ” Wright , 506 S.W.3d at 482. Although Obaida filed a motion to set aside the judgment placing him on community supervision , he did not claim that his sentence was illegal. The habeas

- corp us exception does not apply
. See Ex parte Rich , 194 S.W.3d 508, 511 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006); Martinez v. State , No. 10

- 14

- 00291

- CR, 2016 WL 1274807, at *1 & n.2 (Tex. App.

— Waco Mar. 31, 2016 , no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication). Accordingly, we overrule Obaida’s appellate issue and affirm the trial court’s judgment adjudicating his guilt. /s/ Lee Gabriel Lee Gabriel Justice Do Not Publish Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b) Delivered: October 2 5, 2018