Opinion
06-21-00081-CR
09-16-2021
JOSE JUAN JUAREZ, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
Do Not Publish
Submitted: September 15, 2021
On Appeal from the 402nd District Court Wood County, Texas Trial Court No. 240, 070-2019
Before Morriss, C.J., Burgess and Stevens, JJ.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Ralph K. Burgess Justice
On August 3, 2021, Jose Juan Juarez filed a pro se notice of appeal that failed to identify the order from which he was appealing. We find no appealable order in the record before this Court.
In Texas, a party may only appeal when the Texas Legislature has authorized an appeal. Galitz v. State, 617 S.W.2d 949, 951 (Tex. Crim. App. 1981). When the Legislature passes legislation granting a right of appeal, in addition to granting its citizens that substantive right, it also grants the appellate courts of this State jurisdiction to hear such appeals. In the absence of such authorizing legislation, appellate courts are without jurisdiction and have no authority to act.
In the criminal context, the Texas Legislature has authorized appeals from written final judgments and certain specific interlocutory orders. See Gutierrez v. State, 307 S.W.3d 318, 321 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). As noted above, there is no appealable order in the appellate record filed with this Court. Consequently, we do not have jurisdiction to hear this appeal.
By letter dated August 24, 2021, we notified Juarez, through counsel, of this jurisdictional issue and afforded him an opportunity to respond. Although Juarez responded to our letter, the response did not remedy the jurisdictional defect that prevents us from hearing the appeal.
Because there is no appealable order in the appellate record, we lack jurisdiction over this appeal. Consequently, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.