Rivera, Johnny Reyes v. State

NUMBER 13-99-576-CR

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI

___________________________________________________________________

JOHNNY REYES RIVERA

, Appellant,

v.

THE STATE OF TEXAS

, Appellee.

___________________________________________________________________

On appeal from the 347th District Court

of Nueces County, Texas.

____________________________________________________________________

O P I N I O N

Before Chief Justice Seerden and Justices Dorsey and Rodriguez

Opinion by Justice Rodriguez

Appellant, Johnny Reyes Rivera, appeals his conviction for manslaughter.⁽¹⁾ Rivera pleaded guilty to the charge pursuant to a plea bargain.⁽²⁾ Under the agreement, the trial court sentenced Rivera to seven years in the Texas Department of Corrections without a finding of a deadly weapon. The court denied Rivera's request for permission to appeal. A general notice of appeal was filed.

Rivera's counsel filed a brief in which she concludes that the appeal is without merit and that Rivera has no grounds of error upon which an appeal can be predicated. The brief meets the requirements of Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 744-45 (1967). It presents a professional evaluation of the record showing why, in effect, there are no arguable grounds to advance. See High v. State, 573 S.W.2d 807, 812 (Tex. Crim. App. 1978). Counsel provided a copy of the transcript and statement of facts to Rivera and advised him of his right to file a pro se brief. Counsel requested an extension of thirty days for Rivera to file his brief, should he desire to do so. That time has elapsed and no response has been received by this Court.

Further, because Rivera's judgment was rendered on his plea pursuant to a plea bargain and the punishment did not exceed the punishment recommended by the prosecutor and agreed to by the defendant, his notice of appeal had to state that the appeal: (1) was for a jurisdictional defect; (2) was a matter raised by written motion and ruled on before trial; or (3) that the trial court gave permission to appeal. See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(b)(3). Rivera's counsel reviewed the record and did not find any jurisdictional defects. There were no motions ruled on before trial, and the trial court denied Rivera permission to appeal. Additionally, Rivera's counsel reviewed the statement of facts and could not find any statements indicating that Rivera did not understand his plea or sentence or that his plea was made involuntarily. See Marshall v. State, No. 13-99-00153-CR, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 5427 (Corpus Christi August 10, 2000, no pet.) (voluntariness of a plea may be raised by general notice of appeal). Accordingly, Rivera's general notice of appeal does not give this Court jurisdiction to consider this appeal.

We have reviewed the record and counsel's brief. We agree the appeal is without merit. We find nothing in the record that might arguably support the appeal. Because there is nothing presented over which we have jurisdiction, we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction.

NELDA V. RODRIGUEZ

Justice

Do not publish.

Tex. R. App. P. 47.3.

Opinion delivered and filed

this the 9th day of November, 2000.

1. Rivera was indicted for murder. See Tex. Pen. Code Ann. § 19.02 (Vernon 1994). However, pursuant to the plea bargain, he pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of manslaughter.

2. It is unclear from the record whether Rivera pleaded guilty or nolo contendre. However, because the disposition of the appeal would be the same whether guilty or nolo contendre was pleaded, we need not address this discrepancy.