Opinion
03-22-00079-CV
03-01-2022
In re William Randy Suitor
ORIGINAL PROCEEDING FROM COMAL COUNTY
Before Chief Justice Byrne, Justices Kelly and Smith
MEMORANDUM OPINION
CHARI L. KELLY, JUSTICE
Relator William Randy Suitor, an inmate in the Comal County Jail, filed a pro se original petition for writ of habeas corpus. See Tex. Gov't Code § 22.221; see also Tex.R.App.P. 52.1. Relator complains that he has been unlawfully confined pursuant to a defective indictment.
This Court does not have original habeas corpus jurisdiction in criminal cases. See Tex. Const. art. V, § 6; Tex. Gov't Code § 22.221(d) (limiting original habeas corpus jurisdiction of courts of appeals to situations where relator's liberty is restrained by virtue of order, process, or commitment issued by court or judge in civil case); see also Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 11.05 (vesting "power to issue the writ of habeas corpus" in "[t]he Court of Criminal Appeals, the District Courts, the County Courts, or any Judge of said Courts"). As an intermediate appellate court, our habeas corpus jurisdiction in criminal matters is appellate only. See Tex. Gov't Code § 22.221(d); see also In re Wilkins, No. 03-20-00381-CV, 2020 WL 5608486, at *1 (Tex. App.-Austin Sept. 17, 2020, orig. proceeding).
Accordingly, we dismiss relator's application for writ of habeas corpus for want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 52.8(a).