Court Opinion

ID: 9955324
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-28 09:15:50.352917+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:15:33.407145
License: Public Domain

In The
                                Court of Appeals
                       Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo

                                       No. 07-24-00096-CR

                            IN RE WALTER CORTEZ, RELATOR

                                     ORIGINAL PROCEEDING

                                        March 21, 2024
                              MEMORANDUM OPINION
                  Before QUINN, C.J., and PARKER and YARBROUGH, JJ.

       Walter Cortez, Relator, seeks a writ of mandamus directing the 432nd District

Court to provide him with “a free copy of [his] documents in reference to [his] case.” As

we are without authority to issue a mandamus against the respondent, we dismiss the

petition for want of jurisdiction.

       A court of appeals may issue writs of mandamus against a judge of a district or

county court in its geographic district and may issue writs necessary to enforce its

jurisdiction. TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 22.221(a), (b). Relator has directed his mandamus

petition against the judge of the 432nd District Court of Tarrant County, which is not

located within the geographic district for the Seventh Court of Appeals. See TEX. GOV’T
CODE ANN. § 22.201(h) (identifying counties composing Seventh Court of Appeals

District). Although the appeal of Relator’s underlying case was transferred to this Court,

the transfer did not carry with it any jurisdiction to issue a writ of mandamus in a separate

original proceeding. See In re Foster, No. 07-20-00190-CV, 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 6257,

at *2 (Tex. App.—Amarillo Aug. 7, 2020, orig. proceeding) (per curiam) (mem. op.).

       Accordingly, we are without authority to issue a writ of mandamus against the

judge of the 432nd District Court unless the writ is necessary to enforce our jurisdiction.

See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 22.221(a). Relator has not demonstrated that our jurisdiction

is implicated here. Therefore, we dismiss Relator’s petition for writ of mandamus for want

of jurisdiction.

                                                         Per Curiam

Do not publish.

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