Court Opinion

ID: 4053722
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2016-09-29 04:21:22.006501+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:31:22.035672
License: Public Domain

ACCEPTED
                                                                                  01-14-00832-CR
                                                                        FIRST COURT OF APPEALS
                                                                                HOUSTON, TEXAS
                                                                              4/1/2015 3:27:39 PM
                                                                             CHRISTOPHER PRINE

                 No. 01-14-00832-CR                                                        CLERK

                            In the
                    Court of Appeals                          FILED IN
                           For the                     1st COURT OF APPEALS
                                                           HOUSTON, TEXAS
                 First District of Texas               4/1/2015 3:27:39 PM
                         At Houston
                                                       CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE
                                                               Clerk
                  

                       No. 1173963
                  In the 183rd District Court
                   Of Harris County, Texas

                  

             JOSEPH DARYL MATHIS
                           Appellant
                             V.
              THE STATE OF TEXAS
                           Appellee

                  

             STATE’S APPELLATE BRIEF

                  

                                                DEVON ANDERSON
                                                District Attorney
                                                Harris County, Texas

                                                ALAN CURRY
                                                State Bar No: 05263700
                                                Assistant District Attorney
                                                Harris County, Texas

                                                JOSEPH SANCHEZ
                                                Assistant District Attorney
                                                Harris County, Texas

                                                1201 Franklin, Suite 600
                                                Houston, Texas 77002
                                                Tel.: 713/755-5826
                                                FAX No.: 713/755-5809
                                                curry_alan@dao.hctx.net

ORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED ONLY IF REQUESTED BY APPELLANT
              STATEMENT REGARDING ORAL ARGUMENT

      Pursuant to TEX. R. APP. P. 9.4(g) and TEX. R. APP. P. 39.1, the State requests

oral argument only if oral argument is requested by the appellant.

                                           i
                     IDENTIFICATION OF THE PARTIES

      Pursuant to TEX. R. APP. P. 38.2(a)(1)(A), a complete list of the names of all

interested parties is provided below.

      Complainant, victim, or aggrieved party:

             B. Goldstein

      Counsel for the State:

             Devon Anderson  District Attorney of Harris County

             Alan Curry  Assistant District Attorney on appeal

             Joseph Sanchez  Assistant District Attorney at trial

             Susan Bishop  Assistant District Attorney at trial

      Appellant or criminal defendant:

             Joseph Daryl Mathis

      Counsel for Appellant:

             Juan Contreras  Counsel on appeal

             Enrique Ramirez  Counsel at trial

             Andre Ligon  Counsel at trial

      Trial Judge:

             Hon. Vanessa Velasquez  Presiding Judge

                                         ii
                                       TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT REGARDING ORAL ARGUMENT ................................................i

IDENTIFICATION OF THE PARTIES ................................................................. ii

INDEX OF AUTHORITIES ....................................................................................iv

STATEMENT OF THE CASE.................................................................................. 1

STATEMENT OF FACTS ......................................................................................... 1

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT ......................................................................... 2

REPLY TO SOLE POINT OF ERROR .................................................................... 2

CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 4

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE ......................................................................... 5

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE .................................................................................. 6

                                                          iii
                                      INDEX OF AUTHORITIES
CASES

Dears v. State,
  154 S.W.3d 610 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005) ..................................................................3
Ex parte Insall,
 224 S.W.3d 213 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007) ..................................................................3
Gutierrez v. State,
  108 S.W.3d 304 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003) ..................................................................3
Hargesheimer v. State,
 182 S.W.3d 906 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006) ..................................................................3

RULES

TEX. R. APP. P. 38.2(a)(1)(A)....................................................................................... ii
TEX. R. APP. P. 39.1 ..................................................................................................... i
TEX. R. APP. P. 9.4(g) .................................................................................................. i

                                                            iv
TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS:

                           STATEMENT OF THE CASE

       The appellant was charged with the felony offense of aggravated assault of a

public servant (C.R. 13). The appellant entered a plea of guilty to the offense in

accordance with a plea bargain with the State (C.R. 60-61). After the trial judge found

that the evidence substantiated the appellant’s guilt, she placed the appellant on

probation for five years (C.R. 66). The State later filed a motion to adjudicate the

appellant’s guilt, alleging that the appellant had violated several conditions of his

probation (C.R. 101-02). After the trial judge found several allegations in the State’s

motion to adjudicate to be true, she assessed the appellant’s punishment at

confinement for seven years in prison (C.R. 118; R.R. II-53). A written notice of

appeal was timely filed (C.R. 115, 120).

                         

                              STATEMENT OF FACTS

       The State challenges all factual assertions in the appellant’s brief and presents

its account of the facts within its reply to the appellant’s sole point of error.

                         
                        SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT

      The record does not clearly reflect how the appellant pleaded to the allegations

in the State’s motion to adjudicate. This Court may not have enough information

from this record in order to reform the judgment, but the State is not opposed to

however this Court rules.

                         

                      REPLY TO SOLE POINT OF ERROR

      Under his sole point of error, the appellant claims, “The trial court mistakenly

entered a judgment that appellant plead ‘true’ to the allegations in the motion to

adjudicate rather than ‘not true.’” The appellant claims that the judgment in this case

should be reformed to reflect that the appellant pleaded “not true” to the allegations

in the State’s motion to adjudicate. The record does not clearly reflect the appellant’s

plea to the motion to adjudicate, although—in his testimony at the hearing on the

motion to adjudicate—the appellant clearly agreed to several of the allegations set

forth in the State’s motion to adjudicate (R.R. II-32-45). The appellant correctly notes

that the docket sheet reflects that the appellant pleaded “not true” to the allegations in

the State’s motion to adjudicate (C.R. 144).

      The appellant does not otherwise challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to

support the trial court’s findings of “true” concerning several of the allegations in the

                                            2
State’s motion to adjudicate. The appellant does not otherwise claim that the trial

judge abused her discretion in ultimately adjudicating the appellant’s guilt. With

regard to his rights on appeal, there is no real significance to how a defendant pleads

to a motion to adjudicate his guilt or a motion to revoke his probation. See Ex parte

Insall, 224 S.W.3d 213, 215 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007) (citing Gutierrez v. State, 108 S.W.3d
304 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003)); Hargesheimer v. State, 182 S.W.3d 906, 912 (Tex. Crim.

App. 2006) (citing Dears v. State, 154 S.W.3d 610, 613 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005)). As the

appellant is seeking no more relief than reformation, the State leaves with this Court

the decision as to whether to reform the judgment in this case.

                        

                                           3
                                 CONCLUSION

      It is respectfully submitted that all things are regular and that the conviction

should be affirmed.

                                                    DEVON ANDERSON
                                                    District Attorney
                                                    Harris County, Texas

                                                    /s/ Alan Curry

                                                    ALAN CURRY
                                                    Assistant District Attorney
                                                    Harris County, Texas
                                                    1201 Franklin, Suite 600
                                                    Houston, Texas 77002
                                                    (713) 755-5826
                                                    TBC No. 05263700
                                                    curry_alan@dao.hctx.net

                                          4
                     CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

      The undersigned attorney certifies that this computer-generated document has

a word count of 535 words, based upon the representation provided by the word

processing program that was used to create the document.

                                                   /s/ Alan Curry

                                                   ALAN CURRY
                                                   Assistant District Attorney
                                                   Harris County, Texas
                                                   1201 Franklin, Suite 600
                                                   Houston, Texas 77002
                                                   (713) 755-5826
                                                   TBC No. 05263700
                                                   curry_alan@dao.hctx.net

                                        5
                          CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

      This is to certify that a copy of the foregoing instrument has been mailed to the

appellant’s attorney at the following address on April 1, 2015:

      Juan M. Contreras, Jr.
      Attorney at Law
      102 South Lockwood
      Houston, Texas 77011

                                                      /s/ Alan Curry

                                                      ALAN CURRY
                                                      Assistant District Attorney
                                                      Harris County, Texas
                                                      1201 Franklin, Suite 600
                                                      Houston, Texas 77002
                                                      (713) 755-5826
                                                      TBC No. 05263700
                                                      curry_alan@dao.hctx.net

Date: April 1, 2015

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