IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
OF TEXAS
NO. PD-1009-19
NOAH JOB COPPLER, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS
ON STATE’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW
FROM THE ELEVENTH COURT OF APPEALS
NOLAN COUNTY
Per curiam. Y EARY, J., filed a dissenting opinion in which S LAUGHTER, J., joined.
OPINION
Appellant was convicted of possession of methamphetamine and placed on
community supervision for four years. In the bill of costs, the trial court assessed Appellant
a $25 time payment fee. See T EX. LOCAL G OV’T C ODE § 133.103. On appeal, the Court of
Appeals struck a portion of that fee as being unconstitutional. Coppler v. State, No. 11-19-
00146-CR, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 8475 (Tex. App. – Eastland Sept. 19, 2019).
COPPLER - 2
The State has filed a petition for discretionary review arguing that the time payment
fee was prematurely assessed. We recently handed down our opinion in Dulin v. State, Nos.
PD-0856-19 & PD-0857-19, 2021 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 273 (Tex. Crim. App. Mar. 31,
2021), in which we held that the time payment fee was assessed prematurely because the
pendency of appeal suspends the obligation to pay court costs.
Accordingly, we grant ground one of the State’s petition for discretionary review,
vacate the judgment of the Court of Appeals, and remand this case to the Court of Appeals
for proceedings consistent with this opinion. The State’s other grounds are refused.
DATE DELIVERED: MAY 12, 2021
DO NOT PUBLISH