Opinion issued August 25, 2015
In The
Court of Appeals
For The
First District of Texas
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NO. 01-15-00662-CV
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IN RE CLINTON DONALD JOHNS, Relator
Original Proceeding on Petition for Writ of Mandamus
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Relator, Clinton Donald Johns, proceeding pro se and incarcerated, has filed
a petition for a writ of mandamus primarily seeking to compel the respondent trial
judge to vacate his order, signed on July 1, 2015, granting the real party in interest
William Stephens’ motion to dismiss relator’s application for a post-conviction
writ of habeas corpus or to compel the trial judge to grant habeas relief.1 On
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The underlying trial court case is Clinton Donald Johns, TDCJ-CID No. 764814 v.
William Stephens, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional
August 6, 2015, relator also filed an affidavit of indigence for the filing fees in this
petition and in his related appeal in No. 01-15-00639-CV, which remains pending.
On direct appeal, this Court affirmed relator’s convictions for four counts of
felony aggravated robbery in 1998, and the Court of Criminal Appeals refused his
petition for review. See Clifton [sic] Donald Johns, III v. The State of Texas, Nos.
01-96-01419-CR, 01-96-01420-CR, 01-96-01421-CR, and 01-96-01422-CR, 1998
WL 195950, at *5 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Apr. 16, 1998, pet. ref’d) (op.,
not designated for publication). After our mandate issued on November 6, 1998,
the trial court’s judgments of conviction became final.
Because the mandamus relief relator seeks here involves a habeas
application in a final post-conviction felony proceeding, it is governed by Article
11.07. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 11.07 (West Supp. 2014); see also id.
at art. 11.07, § 5 (stating that, “[a]fter conviction the procedure outlined in this Act
shall be exclusive and any other proceeding shall be void and of no force and effect
in discharging the prisoner.”). “Article 11.07 contains no role for the courts of
appeals. To complain about any action, or inaction, of the convicting court, the
applicant may seek mandamus relief from the Court of Criminal Appeals.” In re
Briscoe, 230 S.W.3d 196, 196–97 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2006, orig.
proceeding); see Bd. of Pardons & Paroles ex rel. Keene v. Court of Appeals for
Institutions Division, Cause No. 2015-17750, in the 157th District Court of Harris
County, Texas, the Honorable Randy Wilson presiding.
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the Eighth Dist., 910 S.W.2d 481, 483 (Tex. Crim. App. 1995). Thus, we lack
jurisdiction to issue the requested writ of mandamus because relator’s petition is
governed by Article 11.07.
Accordingly, we dismiss for want of jurisdiction relator’s petition for writ of
mandamus. See TEX. R. APP. P. 52.8(a), (d). We dismiss all pending motions as
moot.
PER CURIAM
Panel consists of Justices Jennings, Higley, and Brown.
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