WILLIAM SOLOMON LEWIS v. THE STATE OF TEXAS (2024)

OPINION

Appellant was convicted of retaliation. The court of appeals held the evidence legally insufficient and rendered a judgment of acquittal. Lewis v. State, 672 S.W.3d 541 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2023). Appellant filed a motion for bond. Tex. Crim. App. 44.04(h). The court of appeals granted appellant bond in the amount of $120,000, pending appeal. The State filed a petition for discretionary review which the Court granted.

The State then filed a motion asking this Court to find the amount of bail set by the court of appeals insufficient. On January 31, 2024, the Court issued an opinion on the State's motion, raising the amount of bond set by the court of appeals to $500,000. Lewis v. State, PD-0564-23 slip op. (Tex. Crim. App. Jan. 31, 2024).

Appellant filed a “motion for reconsideration” asking the Court to reconsider its holding and allow appellant to continue on the bond previously set by the court of appeals. Appellant attached to his motion a copy of a document suggesting that appellant may have violated his conditions of bond. The Court has since confirmed that, according to documents filed in the trial court, on February 1, 2024, the State detected that an attempt was made to tamper with appellant's GPS monitoring device. Appellant's device was found on February 5. On February 6, the trial court ordered an alias capias for appellant's arrest, effectively revoking or suspending his bond.

Because the trial court's order for appellant's arrest effectively suspended his bond before the mandate issued on this Court's opinion resetting the amount of the bond, the Court's opinion is moot. Cf. Danziger v. State, 786 S.W.2d 723 (Tex. Crim. App. 1990) (dismissing petition for discretionary review upon finding applicant's contentions pertaining to pretrial confinement due to denial of bail moot where applicant was convicted and confined for life); see also Jack v. State, 149 S.W.3d 119, 123 n.10 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004)(“A case becomes moot on appeal when the judgment of the appellate court can no longer have an effect on an existing controversy or cannot affect the rights of the parties”).

We deny appellant's motion for reconsideration, deny the State's motion for sufficient bail, and withdraw our January 31, 2024 opinion.

Per curiam.