Court Opinion

ID: 9382595
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-03-28 12:08:37.463437+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:17:40.334909
License: Public Domain

Fourth Court of Appeals
                                    San Antonio, Texas
                               MEMORANDUM OPINION

                                       No. 04-22-00457-CR

                                   Douglas Wayne THOMAS,
                                           Appellant

                                                 v.

                                      The STATE of Texas,
                                            Appellee

                    From the 186th Judicial District Court, Bexar County, Texas
                                  Trial Court No. 2017CR13170
                           Honorable Jefferson Moore, Judge Presiding

Opinion by:      Rebeca C. Martinez, Chief Justice

Sitting:         Rebeca C. Martinez, Chief Justice
                 Patricia O. Alvarez, Justice
                 Beth Watkins, Justice

Delivered and Filed: March 22, 2023

AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED

           Appellant Douglas Wayne Thomas pled nolo contendere to the second degree felony

offense of aggravated assault. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. §§ 12.33, 22.02. On February 5, 2019,

the trial court ordered that adjudication of guilt be deferred, and it placed appellant on community

supervision for six years and assessed a $1,000 fine. On September 4, 2020, the State filed a

motion, seeking an adjudication of guilt and the revocation of appellant’s community supervision.

On June 6, 2022, the trial court held a hearing, at which appellant pled “true” to violating

conditions of his community supervision. After receiving this plea, the trial court found appellant
                                                                                     04-22-00457-CR

had violated conditions of his community supervision. The trial court then revoked appellant’s

community supervision and found him guilty of the underlying offense. On July 14, 2022, the trial

court held a hearing, at which it again revoked appellant’s community supervision, found him

guilty of the underlying offense, and orally assessed a sentence of incarceration for seven years,

crediting appellant for the time he had served prior to that date. In addition, the trial court’s

judgment imposes a $1,000 fine.

       Appellant appeals only the imposition of a $1,000 fine in the judgment on the ground that

the trial court did not orally pronounce the fine when it pronounced his sentence at the July 14,

2022 adjudication hearing. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 42.03, § 1(a) (requiring sentence

to be orally pronounced in defendant’s presence). The State concedes error.

       In Taylor v. State, 131 S.W.3d 497, 502 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004), the Court of Criminal

Appeals held that when a defendant is placed on deferred adjudication and later adjudicated guilty,

“the order adjudicating guilt sets aside the order deferring adjudication, including the previously

imposed fine.” Therefore, if the trial court does not orally pronounce the fine at the time guilt is

adjudicated but includes the fine in its written judgment, there is a conflict between the two and

the oral pronouncement controls, requiring the fine to be deleted from the judgment. Id.; Ex parte

Madding, 70 S.W.3d 131, 135 (Tex. Crim. App. 2002). Here, the deferred adjudication order

includes a $1,000 fine, as does the judgment signed after adjudication of guilt and revocation of

community supervision. However, because the trial court did not orally pronounce the fine at the

time of adjudication, the fine must be deleted from the judgment. See Taylor, 131 S.W.3d at 502

(noting unique circumstances of deferred adjudication, in contrast to regular probation in which

sentence is imposed and then suspended); Burt v. State, 445 S.W.3d 752, 757 (Tex. Crim. App.

2014) (“A trial judge has neither the statutory authority nor the discretion to orally pronounce one

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                                                                                 04-22-00457-CR

sentence in front of the defendant, but then enter a different written judgment outside the

defendant’s presence.”).

       Therefore, we modify the judgment to delete the assessment of the $1,000 fine against

appellant.

                                             Rebeca C. Martinez, Chief Justice

DO NOT PUBLISH

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