IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
OF TEXAS
NO. PD-0875-20
JACKIE LETT, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS
ON STATE’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW
FROM THE AUSTIN COURT OF APPEALS
BURNET COUNTY
Per curiam. YEARY, J., filed a dissenting opinion in which SLAUGHTER, J.,
joined.
OPINION
Appellant was convicted of seventeen counts of sexual assault of a child.
Punishment was assessed at fifteen years confinement on Count 1 and fifteen years
confinement on Count 17. As to Counts 2 through 16, punishment was assessed at ten
JACKIE LETT - 2
years confinement on each count, the sentences were suspended and appellant was placed
on community supervision for ten years on each count. 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. Lett v.
State, No. 03-19-00105-CR (Tex. App. – Austin August 13, 2020).
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DO NOT PUBLISH