Court Opinion

ID: 9821496
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 08:09:49.401616+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:43:50.673588
License: Public Domain

In The

                                   Court of Appeals

                      Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

                                 __________________

                                 NO. 09-23-00270-CR
                                 __________________

                              IN RE JEANNIE DUGAS

__________________________________________________________________

                          Original Proceeding
             128th District Court of Orange County, Texas
__________________________________________________________________

                            MEMORANDUM OPINION

       Jeannie Dugas filed an original petition for a writ of habeas corpus in a

criminal case. She states that she has been continuously detained in jail since her

arrest on two criminal charges. The statutory grant of power to issue a writ of habeas

corpus “to the court of appeals or a court of appeal district in which a person is

restrained in his liberty” is limited to restraint of liberty of a person within our district

“by virtue of an order, process, or commitment issued by a court or judge because

of the violation of an order, judgment, or decree previously made, rendered, or

entered by the court or judge in a civil case.” Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. § 22.221(d). An

intermediate court of appeals lacks original habeas jurisdiction in criminal law

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matters. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 11.05 (By Whom Writ May Be

Granted); see also Denby v. State, 627 S.W.2d 435 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.]

1981, orig. proceeding) (“The Courts of Appeals have no original habeas corpus

jurisdiction in criminal matters; their jurisdiction is appellate only.”). Accordingly,

we dismiss Dugas’s petition for writ of habeas corpus for lack of jurisdiction.

      PETITION DISMISSED.

                                                            PER CURIAM

Submitted on August 29, 2023
Opinion Delivered August 30, 2023
Do Not Publish

Before Golemon, C.J., Horton and Wright, JJ.

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