Eric Nicholas Milton v. State

Dismissed and Memorandum Opinion filed December 4, 2008

Dismissed and Memorandum Opinion filed December 4, 2008.

 

 

In The

 

Fourteenth Court of Appeals

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NO. 14-07-00948-CR

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ERIC NICHOLAS MILTON, Appellant

 

V.

 

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

 

 

On Appeal from the 262nd District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 1112029

 

 

M E M O R A N D U M   O P I N I O N

Appellant entered a Aguilty@ plea to aggravated assault.  In accordance with the terms of a plea bargain agreement with the State, the trial court sentenced appellant on October 10, 2007, to confinement for fifteen years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.  Appellant filed a pro se notice of appeal.  We dismiss the appeal. 

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, but the trial court has given permission to


appeal, and the defendant has the right of appeal.  See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(a)(2). 

The appeal was abated for a hearing to determine whether appellant was entitled to counsel on appeal.  A hearing was held February 7, 2008.  The record reflects the trial  court did not grant permission to appeal and the certification was a clerical error.  Defense counsel stated on the record it was a plea bargain and agreed with the trial court that it Awas not the intention of either party to allow the Defendant to appeal this standard plea bargain.@  Further, the trial court stated, AI, as the presiding judge of the 262nd, am not giving him special permission to appeal this because it was a standard plea bargain.@

When a complete record is present, we are obligated to examine the record to determine whether the trial court=s certification is defective.   See Dears v. State, 154 S.W.3d 610, 614-15 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005).  The record reflects the trial court did not grant permission to appeal.  In his appellate brief, appellant concedes he has no right of appeal because the trial court did not grant permission to appeal. 

Appellant entered a plea of Aguilty@ and the punishment did not exceed that recommended by the prosecutor and agreed to by the defendant.  See Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(a)(2).  The trial court did not grant permission to appeal and there were no pretrial written motions upon which the trial court ruled adversely to the defense.  Id.  Accordingly, appellant has no right of appeal.  Id.

The appeal is dismissed. 

 

PER CURIAM

 

Judgment rendered and Memorandum Opinion filed December 4, 2008.

Panel consists of Justices Frost, Brown, and Boyce.

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