Court Opinion

ID: 9929686
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-03 07:11:50.907754+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:44:19.136116
License: Public Domain

Opinion filed February 1, 2024

                                       In The

        Eleventh Court of Appeals
                                     ___________

                                 No. 11-24-00004-CR
                                     ___________

                        LEON FLETCHER, Appellant
                                          V.
                     THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

                     On Appeal from the 259th District Court
                             Jones County, Texas
                         Trial Court Cause No. 011444

                      MEMORANDUM OPINION
      Appellant, Leon Fletcher, filed a pro se notice of appeal of his conviction.
Appellant pleaded not guilty to the first-degree felony offense of aggravated sexual
assault of a child. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. 22.021(a), (e) (West 2019). The jury
found Appellant guilty of the offense, and, on April 19, 2017, the trial court assessed
his punishment at twenty years of imprisonment in the Institutional Division of the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. We dismiss this appeal.
        When this appeal was docketed, we notified Appellant by letter that his notice
of appeal appeared to be untimely, and that the trial court’s certification indicated
that Appellant had waived his right of appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 25.2(a)(2), (d),
26.2(a); see also TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 44.02 (West 2018); Fletcher v.
State, No. 11-17-00146-CR, 2017 WL 2986761, at *1 (Tex. App.—Eastland July 13,
2017, no pet.) (dismissing appeal for want of jurisdiction because Appellant waived
his right of appeal). In our letter, we requested that Appellant respond and show
grounds to continue the appeal, and we notified Appellant that this appeal may be
dismissed. Appellant filed a response but has not shown any grounds upon which
this appeal may proceed.
        Pursuant to the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure, a notice of appeal must
be filed either (1) within thirty days after the date that sentence is imposed in open
court or (2) if the defendant timely files a motion for new trial, within ninety days
after the date that sentence is imposed in open court. TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a). A
notice of appeal must be in writing and filed with the clerk of the trial court. TEX. R.
APP. P. 25.2(c)(1). Appellant filed his pro se notice of appeal nearly six years after
his sentence was imposed in open court. The notice of appeal was therefore
untimely. Absent a timely filed notice of appeal, we do not have jurisdiction to
entertain this appeal.1 Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998);
Olivo v. State, 918 S.W.2d 519, 522–23 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996); Rodarte v. State,
860 S.W.2d 108, 110 (Tex. Crim. App. 1993).
        Moreover, even if Appellant had timely perfected an appeal, the appeal would
have been prohibited by Rule 25.2 of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure, which

        To the extent Appellant’s notice of appeal indicates that he is seeking post-conviction relief, we
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note that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has exclusive jurisdiction in post-conviction felony
proceedings. Ater v. Eighth Court of Appeals, 802 S.W.2d 241, 243 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991) (orig.
proceeding). We further note that Appellant filed a post-conviction writ of habeas corpus with the Court
of Criminal Appeals in 2020, which was denied. See Ex parte Fletcher, WR-37,919-05 (Tex. Crim. App.
Aug. 12, 2020) (not designated for publication).
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provides that an appellate court must dismiss an appeal without further action where,
as here, there is no certification showing that the defendant has the right of appeal.
TEX. R. APP. P. 25.2(d); Chavez v. State, 183 S.W.3d 675, 680 (Tex. Crim. App.
2006); Fletcher v. State, 2017 WL 2986761, at *1; see Dears v. State, 154 S.W.3d
610, 613–14 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005).
      We dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.

                                               JOHN M. BAILEY
                                               CHIEF JUSTICE

February 1, 2024
Do not publish. See TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).
Panel consists of: Bailey, C.J.,
Trotter, J., and Williams, J.

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