Court Opinion

ID: 9679961
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:13:57.55695+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:23.863545
License: Public Domain

BAIRD, Judge,
concurring.
The majority correctly holds that appellant’s sentence was void because the punishment was not authorized by law. However, that fact alone does not defeat appellant’s jeopardy claim. In this case, the original sentence of twenty years was the result of a plea bargain agreement. When a sentence not authorized by law is derived through a plea bargain agreement, the proper remedy is to return the parties to their original positions. Heath v. State, 817 S.W.2d 335, 337 (Tex.Cr.App.1991) (citing Shannon v. State, 708 S.W.2d 850 (Tex.Cr.App.1986)). Cf., Levy v. State, 818 S.W.2d 801, 803 (Tex.Cr.App.1991) (Where defendant pleads guilty without the benefit of a plea bargain agreement and receives a sentence not authorized by law, the appropriate remedy is to allow the finding of guilt to remain and to remand the ease to the trial court for the proper assessment of punishment.). Since the parties are returned to their original positions, jeopardy has not attached. This was the rationale used by the Court of Appeals in holding the prosecution of appellant was not jeopardy barred. Hern v. State, 862 S.W.2d 179 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1993).
My disagreement with the majority springs from its reliance on Hoang v. State, 872 S.W.2d 694 (Tex.Cr.App.1993). Hoang is inapposite because there the judgments were void because the trial court rendering judgment lacked jurisdiction. Id., 872 S.W.2d at 698. Whereas in the instant case, the trial court had jurisdiction, the infirmity only related to the sentence imposed. Consequent*897ly, I believe this case should be decided, and the judgment of the Court of Appeals affirmed, on the basis of Heath and Shannon. Hern, 862 S.W.2d at 181.
With these comments, I join the judgment only.
OVERSTREET, J., joins this opinion.