Court Opinion

ID: 9634581
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:17:28.792891+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:06.046394
License: Public Domain

*360OPINION ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
In our original opinion, citing Phynes v. State, 828 S.W.2d 1, 2 (Tex.Crim.App.1992), we held that we had no jurisdiction to consider appellant’s claim that his plea of “true” to the allegations of the State’s motion to adjudicate guilt was involuntary. On rehearing in appellate cause no. 01-97-01438-CR, appellant argues that Phynes is not applicable because he is attacking the voluntariness of his plea to the allegations of the State’s motion to adjudicate guilt, not the sufficiency of the evidence adduced at the hearing on the motion to adjudicate. Appellant argues that the appeal in cause no. 01-97-01438-CR is governed by Flowers v. State, 935 S.W.2d 131, 134 (Tex.Crim.App.1996), in which the court held that the voluntariness of a guilty plea is jurisdictional in plea agreement cases.
We do not agree that Flowers controls the disposition of the case in appellate cause no. 01-97-01438-CR. Flowers involved a plea of guilty to the charged offense. 935 S.W.2d at 134. By contrast, this case involves a plea of true to allegations contained in the State’s motion to adjudicate guilt, not a guilty plea to the charged offense. Thus, the issue is not whether the voluntariness of appellant’s plea is jurisdictional to his appeal, but whether he has an appellate remedy at all.
Phynes clearly holds that he does not. 828 S.W.2d at 2. There can be no appeal from a trial court’s decision to adjudicate guilt, even if the claim raised on appeal involves significant constitutional rights. See id. (no appellate review of defendant’s claim that he was denied counsel at hearing on motion to adjudicate guilt).
In Gareau v. State, 923 S.W.2d 252, 253 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1996, no pet.), the defendant claimed that his plea of true to the State’s motion to adjudicate guilt was involuntary because he received ineffective assistance of counsel at the proceeding to adjudicate guilt. The court, citing Phynes, held that it had no jurisdiction to consider such a claim. Gareau, 923 S.W.2d at 253.
Therefore, we hold that a challenge to the voluntariness of appellant’s plea of true to the allegations in the State’s motion to adjudicate guilt is an attempt to appeal the trial court’s decision to adjudicate guilt. The legislature has not provided appellate review in such cases.
Accordingly, we deny appellant’s motion for rehearing in appellate cause no. 01-97-01438-CR. We also order our opinion of April 29,1999, published.