Court Opinion

ID: 9881853
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-04 14:28:38.868444+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:18.173945
License: Public Domain

In the
              Court of Appeals
Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

                   No. 06-23-00151-CR

         BRANDON JOREL SCOTT, Appellant

                            V.

           THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

          On Appeal from the 6th District Court
                Lamar County, Texas
                Trial Court No. 28823

      Before Stevens, C.J., van Cleef and Rambin, JJ.
       Memorandum Opinion by Justice van Cleef
                                     MEMORANDUM OPINION

           Brandon Jorel Scott was convicted of possession of less than one gram of a controlled

substance1 and was sentenced to two years’ incarceration, suspended in favor of five years’

community supervision. After Scott pled true to the State’s motion to revoke his community

supervision and agreed to waive his right of appeal in connection with a plea agreement in two

other matters,2 the trial court sentenced Scott to two years’ incarceration. The trial court also

certified that Scott had waived his right of appeal.

           Even though Scott waived his right of appeal, he nevertheless, acting pro se, filed a notice

of appeal. “A court of appeals lacks jurisdiction over and must dismiss an appeal when the

defendant has validly waived his right of appeal.” Lopez v. State, 595 S.W.3d 897, 899 (Tex.

App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2020, pet. ref’d) (citing Jones v. State, 488 S.W.3d 801, 808 (Tex.

Crim. App. 2016)); see also Freeman v. State, 913 S.W.2d 714 (Tex. App.—Amarillo 1995, pet.

ref’d).

           We informed Scott of this apparent defect in our jurisdiction over his appeal and afforded

him an opportunity to respond and, if possible, cure such defect. Scott did not respond to our

letter.

1
    TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. § 481.115(b) (Supp.).
2
    Those matters are on appeal under our cause numbers 06-23-00150-CR and 06-23-00152-CR.
                                                        2
       Because Scott has no right of appeal as a result of his valid waiver of the right of appeal

and because the trial court’s certification correctly indicates that he is without a right of appeal,

we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction.

                                              Charles van Cleef
                                              Justice

Date Submitted:        October 3, 2023
Date Decided:          October 4, 2023

Do Not Publish

                                                   3