Nicolas Bustos v. State

Affirmed and Memorandum Opinion on Remand filed May 29, 2014. In The Fourteenth Court of Appeals NO. 14-12-00625-CR NICOLAS BUSTOS, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee On Appeal from the 337th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 1329619 MEMORANDUM OPINION ON REMAND Appellant Nicolas Bustos appeals his conviction for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. On original submission, appellant argued that there was insufficient evidence in the record to support the court’s costs of $239 reflected in the judgment. We agreed and modified the trial court’s judgment to delete the specific amount of costs assessed. Bustos v. State, No. 14-12-00625-CR; 2013 WL 645166 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Feb. 21, 2013) vacated and remanded, No. PD-386-13; 2014 WL 1512945 (Tex. Crim. App. Apr. 16, 2014). The Court of Criminal Appeals vacated our judgment and remanded in light of its opinion in Johnson v. State, 423 S.W.3d 385 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014). The judgment includes an assessment of $239 in court costs. The record contains a certified, signed bill of costs listing $239 in court costs. We review the assessment of court costs on appeal to determine if there is a basis for the costs, not to determine whether there was sufficient evidence offered at trial to prove each cost. Johnson v. State, 423 S.W.3d at 390. Traditional sufficiency-of-the-evidence standards of review do not apply. Id. Generally, a bill of costs must (1) contain the items of cost, (2) be signed by the officer who charged the cost or the officer who is entitled to receive payment for the cost, and (3) be certified. Id. at 392–93; see Tex. Crim. Proc. Code Ann. arts. 103.001, 103.006. The record supports the assessment of costs in this case because the record contains a bill of costs that contains each item of cost, is signed by a representative of the district clerk’s office who is entitled to receive payment of the costs, and is certified. See Johnson, 423 S.W.3d at 393. The trial court assessed $239 in costs against appellant. The sum of the itemized costs in the cost bill is $239. There being no challenge to any specific cost or the basis for the assessment of such cost, the bill of costs supports the costs assessed in the judgment. Id. at 396. The fact that the bill of costs was not prepared until after the court signed the judgment does not defeat the lawfulness of the bill of costs. Id. at 394. (“[M]atters pertaining to the imposition of court costs need not be brought to the attention of the trial court, including a bill of costs prepared after a criminal trial.”). 2 On remand, we affirm the trial court’s judgment. PER CURIAM Panel consists of Justices Christopher, Jamison, and McCally. Do Not Publish — TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b). 3