Dismissed and Memorandum Opinion filed February 28, 2013.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals

NO. 14-13-00112-CR

LOUIS JAMES MACKEY, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 180th District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 1342497

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

Appellant entered a guilty plea to a third offense of driving while 

intoxicated. In accordance with the terms of a plea bargain agreement with the 

State, the trial court sentenced appellant on December 26, 2012, to confinement for 

five years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal 

Justice. No motion for new trial was filed. Appellant filed a pro se notice of appeal

on January 30, 2013. 

Appellant’s notice of appeal was filed more than thirty days after sentence 

was imposed. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a). However, the notice is dated January 
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15, 2013, and it may have been timely mailed. See Campbell v. State, 320 S.W.3d 

338, 342 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010) (citing Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S.266, 275, 208 

S.Ct. 2379 (1988), and stating that prisoner-mailbox rule provides that a pro se

prisoner is deemed to have filed his properly addressed notice of appeal at the time 

it is delivered to the appropriate prison authorities for forwarding to the clerk of the 

convicting court). Because we conclude that appellant has no right to appeal, we 

need not verify that the notice of appeal was delivered to prison authorities within 

thirty days of sentencing.

In a plea bargain case, a defendant may only appeal those matters that were 

raised by written motion filed and ruled on before trial or after receiving the trial 

court’s permission to appeal. Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(a)(2). An appeal must be 

dismissed if a certification showing that the defendant has the right of appeal has 

not been made part of the record. Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(d); see also Chavez v. State, 

183 S.W.3d 675, 680 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006) (holding court of appeals must 

dismiss prohibited appeal without further action).

The trial court entered a certification of the defendant’s right to appeal in 

which the court certified that this is a plea bargain case, and the defendant has no 

right of appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(a)(2). The trial court’s certification is 

included in the record on appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(d). There is nothing in 

the record to support a finding that appellant filed written pre-trial motions that 

were ruled on before trial.1See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(a)(2)(A); see also Chavez, 

183 S.W.3d at 680. There is also nothing in the record to reflect that the trial court 

 

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The record reflects that on January 30, 2013, after his sentencing, appellant filed a 

motion to withdraw his guilty plea, which the trial court denied. This ruling does not provide a 

basis for a direct appeal absent the trial court’s permission. See Cooper v. State, 45 S.W.3d 77, 

81 (Tex. Crim. App. 2001) (holding that voluntariness of guilty plea may not be raised on appeal 

from plea-bargained felony conviction); Estrada v. State, 149 S.W.3d 280, 283 (Tex. App.—

Houston [1st Dist.] 2004, pet. ref’d) (concluding that claim of ineffective assistance of counsel 

may not be raised in appeal from plea-bargained case, unless authorized by trial court).
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granted permission to appeal. Therefore, the record supports the trial court’s 

certification. See Dears v. State, 154 S.W.3d 610, 615 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005).

Accordingly, the appeal is ordered dismissed.

PER CURIAM

Panel consists of Justices Frost, Brown, and Busby.

Do Not Publish — Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b).