NO. 07-09-00168-CR
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SEVENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
AT AMARILLO
PANEL C
MARCH 11, 2010
JOSE MALDONADO, APPELLANT
v.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE
FROM THE 69TH DISTRICT COURT OF DALLAM COUNTY;
NO. 4045; HONORABLE RICHARD DAMBOLD, JUDGE
Before QUINN, C.J., and HANCOCK and PIRTLE, JJ.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Appellant, Jose Maldonado, entered a plea of guilty to indecency with a child and
was placed on deferred adjudication community supervision for a period of 10 years.
Appellant has appealed alleging that the transfer hearing held by the juvenile court was
not recorded as required and service of notice of the hearing on the transfer was
defective, thereby denying jurisdiction to the district court. We reverse and remand.
Procedural History
On November 7, 2007, the State filed a petition alleging that appellant had
engaged in delinquent conduct. Prior to any adjudication of the allegations against
appellant, the State filed a motion requesting that the juvenile court waive jurisdiction of
appellant’s case and transfer the matter to the 69th District Court of Dallam County,
Texas. The State then issued a summons for appellant’s parents, Dina Maldonado and
Simon Maldonado, to appear on January 24, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. when the court would
consider the matter of the discretionary transfer of appellant’s juvenile case to the
district court. The clerk’s record reflects that Dina Maldonado was not served with the
summons until January 29, 2008 at 4:26 p.m., some five days after the hearing.
Appellant and his father, Simon Maldonado, were served at 2:21 p.m. on January 24,
2008, some nine minutes before the hearing. On January 24, 2008, the juvenile court
entered an order transferring the matter to the district court for trial as an adult.
Subsequently, appellant entered a plea of guilty and was granted deferred adjudication
community supervision for a period of 10 years. Appellant timely filed this appeal.
Analysis
A juvenile proceeding is governed by Title 3 of the Texas Family Code. See TEX.
FAM. CODE ANN. tit. 3 (Vernon 2007).1 A voluntary transfer of a case from a juvenile
court to a district court is governed by section 54.02. Section 54.02(b) requires that the
notice provisions found in other sections of the Code must be satisfied. Specifically, the
requirements of section 53.07 must be met. See § 54.02(b). This provision requires
that a summons be served on a person at least two days prior to the hearing in
question. See § 53.07(a). The record reflects that none of the parties required to be
served in the underlying juvenile action, prior to the transfer to district court, were
1
Further reference to the Texas Family Code will be by reference to “section
___” or “ §___.”
2
served in a timely manner. The State has confessed this error in its letter brief filed with
this Court. As a result of the failure to serve the summons in question in a timely
manner, the juvenile court was deprived of its jurisdiction to transfer this matter to the
district court and, therefore, the district court never acquired jurisdiction over appellant.
See Carlson v. State, 151 S.W.3d 643, 646 (Tex.App.—Eastland 2004, no pet.); Alaniz
v. State, 2 S.W.3d 451, 452 (Tex.App.—San Antonio 1999, no pet.). We sustain
appellant’s second issue.
Conclusion
Because the juvenile court did not have jurisdiction to transfer the case to the
district court, we reverse the conviction of appellant and remand this matter to the
juvenile court for further proceedings. Because of our resolution of appellant’s second
issue, we need not address appellant’s first issue concerning the failure to record the
transfer hearing.
Mackey K. Hancock
Justice
Do not publish.
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