LLOYD ANDREW CHAMBERS v. THE STATE OF TEXAS (2022)

DISSENTING OPINION ON EN BANC RECONSIDERATION

Motion for En Banc Reconsideration Granted; December 2, 2021 Majority and Dissenting Opinions Withdrawn; Affirmed and Substitute Majority and Dissenting Opinions filed October 18, 2022.

Appellant was convicted in a municipal court of the offense of failing to wear a seat belt while operating a commercial vehicle. Appellant appealed to the county criminal court at law. The county criminal court at law issued an undated opinion affirming the conviction without an accompanying order or judgment. Without an order or judgment, this court lacks jurisdiction to hear this appeal and it should be dismissed.

This is a relatively undeveloped area of law: there have been fewer than a dozen cases that even address appeals from municipal courts to county courts at law and none address this particular situation. Although I agree with the majority that Texas Government Code section 30.00014 applies to appeals from the municipal courts to the county courts at law, I disagree with its failure to address Texas Government Code section 30.00027(b). This section requires appellants who petition intermediate appellate courts to follow the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to direct appeals from a county or a district court to the court of appeals (with the narrow exception that the briefs and record at the county criminal court at law may be filed directly with the Court of Appeals). Tex. Gov't Code Ann. § 30.00027(b)(1-2). Turning to the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, it is clear that, “[t]he right of appeal to the Court of Appeals of this state is expressly accorded the defendant for a review of any judgment or order made hereunder, and said appeal shall be given preference by the appellate court.” Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 44.04(g) (emphasis added). Here, there is neither a judgment nor an order.¹

Without an appealable judgment or order (despite a request for one from this court before the original majority opinion in this case was released), this Court has no jurisdiction to entertain this appeal. Therefore, it should be dismissed.

FOOTNOTES

1.   The Code of Criminal Procedure also contains an assignment of costs provision which mandates that a fine and costs “shall be collected from the defendant.” See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 44.281 (“[i]n misdemeanor cases affirmed on appeal from a municipal court, the fine imposed on appeal and the costs imposed on appeal shall be collected from the defendant”). Despite this unambiguous requirement, the record before us lacks any compliant judgment or order. Under the circumstances, I view this secondary failure to comply with the Code of Criminal Procedure's express requirements to reinforce my conclusion that the record before us lacks an appealable judgment or order.

Meagan Hassan Justice