Ricardo Octavio Rivas v. State

Dismissed and Memorandum Opinion filed September 8, 2005

Dismissed and Memorandum Opinion filed September 8, 2005.

 

In The

 

Fourteenth Court of Appeals

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NO. 14-05-00913-CR

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RICARDO OCTAVIO RIVAS, Appellant

 

V.

 

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

 

 

On Appeal from the 262nd District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 988,731

 

 

M E M O R A N D U M   O P I N I O N

Appellant entered a guilty plea to felony driving while intoxicated.  In accordance with the terms of a plea bargain agreement with the State, the trial court sentenced appellant on July 20, 2004, to confinement for four years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, probated for four years, and assessed a $500 fine.  Appellant filed a pro se notice of appeal on July 27, 2005, more than one year after he was sentenced.  Because we lack jurisdiction and appellant has no right to appeal, we dismiss. 


A defendant=s notice of appeal must be filed within thirty days after sentence is imposed when the defendant has not filed a motion for new trial.  See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1).  A notice of appeal which complies with the requirements of Rule 26 is essential to vest the court of appeals with jurisdiction.  Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998).  If an appeal is not timely perfected, a court of appeals does not obtain jurisdiction to address the merits of the appeal.  Under those circumstances it can take no action other than to dismiss the appeal.  Id.

Moreover, the trial court entered a certification of the defendant=s right to appeal in which the court certified that this is a plea bargain case, and the defendant has no right of appeal.  See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(a)(2).  The trial court=s certification is included in the record on appeal.  See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(d).

Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal. 

 

PER CURIAM

 

Judgment rendered and Memorandum Opinion filed September 8, 2005.

Panel consists of Chief Justice Hedges and Justices Yates and Anderson.

Do Not Publish C Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b).