In The
Court of Appeals
Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana
No. 06-15-00098-CR
STEVEN MARLIN SCHADE, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 76th District Court
Camp County, Texas
Trial Court No. CF-14-1378
Before Morriss, C.J., Moseley and Burgess, JJ.
Memorandum Opinion by Justice Moseley
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Steven Marlin Schade pled guilty to and was convicted of the offense of aggravated
robbery and was sentenced to twenty years’ incarceration. Schade’s sentence was imposed March
17, 2014, and he did not file a motion for a new trial. Schade filed his notice of appeal June 2,
2015. The issue before us is whether Schade properly invoked this Court’s jurisdiction by timely
perfecting his appeal. Because we find that Schade’s notice of appeal was not timely filed and
because he waived his right of appeal, we conclude that we are without jurisdiction to hear the
appeal.
A timely filed notice of appeal is necessary to invoke this Court’s jurisdiction. Olivo v.
State, 918 S.W.2d 519, 522 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996). Rule 26.2 of the Texas Rules of Appellate
Procedure prescribes the time period in which a notice of appeal must be filed to perfect an appeal
in a criminal case. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2. A criminal defendant’s notice of appeal is timely if
filed within thirty days after the date sentence is imposed, or if the defendant timely files a motion
for new trial, within ninety days after the date sentence is imposed. TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a);
Olivo, 918 S.W.2d at 522.
In this case, the deadline for filing a notice of appeal was April 16, 2014. See TEX. R. APP.
P. 26.2(a)(2). The notice of appeal in this matter was filed well after that deadline; it is, therefore,
untimely.
Even if Schade’s notice of appeal had been timely filed, we nevertheless would not have
jurisdiction over this appeal. This was a plea bargain case in which Schade waived any right of
appeal he might have had. The Texas Legislature has granted a very limited right of appeal in plea
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bargain cases. Rule 25.2(a)(2) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure details that right as
follows:
In a plea bargain case—that is, a case in which a defendant’s plea was guilty or
nolo contendere and the punishment did not exceed the punishment recommended
by the prosecutor and agreed to by the defendant—a defendant may appeal only:
(A) those matters that were raised by written motion filed and
ruled on before trial, or
(B) after getting the trial court’s permission to appeal.
TEX. R. APP. P. 25.2(a)(2). Further, this Court is required to dismiss an appeal if, as in this case,
the trial court’s certification indicates that there is no right of appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 25.2(d).
Because this was a plea bargain case in which the assessed punishment did not exceed the agreed-
upon punishment recommendation, Schade did not have a right of appeal from his conviction. See
id.
By letter dated July 8, 2015, we notified Schade of these potential defects in our jurisdiction
and afforded him an opportunity to respond. Schade filed a response in which he claims that the
trial court gave him permission to appeal in compliance with Rule 25.2(a)(2)(B) of the Texas Rules
of Appellate Procedure. See TEX. R. APP. P. 25.2(a)(2)(B). However, the trial court’s certification
in this case indicates that there is no right of appeal.
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In light of the foregoing, we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction.
Bailey C. Moseley
Justice
Date Submitted: August 24, 2015
Date Decided: August 25, 2015
Do Not Publish
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Steven Marlin Schade v. State
Combined Opinion