Opinion
No. 07-17-00332-CR
09-29-2017
TIMOTHY LEE, APPELLANT v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE
On Appeal from the 140th District Court Lubbock County, Texas
Trial Court No. 2013-439 ,560; Honorable Jim Bob Darnell, Presiding
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before CAMPBELL, PIRTLE and PARKER, JJ.
Pursuant to a plea-bargain agreement, Appellant, Timothy Lee, was convicted of possession of a controlled substance, to wit: methamphetamine, in an amount less than one gram, and sentenced to 180 days in Lubbock County Jail. Appellant has filed a pro se Motion for an Appeal or Expungement challenging his conviction. We dismiss the purported appeal and motion for expunction for want of jurisdiction.
TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. § 481.115(a), (b) (West 2017).
The timely filing of a written notice of appeal is a jurisdictional prerequisite to hearing an appeal. Castillo v. State, 369 S.W.3d 196, 198 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012). If a notice of appeal is not timely filed, a court of appeals has no option but to dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. Id. In a criminal case, the notice of appeal must be filed within thirty days after sentence is imposed or within ninety days after sentence is imposed if a motion for new trial is timely filed. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a). This court has no authority to invoke Rule 2 of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure to enlarge the time in which to file a notice of appeal. TEX. R. APP. P. 2; Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998).
Appellant was sentenced on February 11, 2014. Because a motion for new trial was not filed, his notice of appeal was due by March 13, 2014. See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.2(a); 26.3. Appellant filed a notice of appeal and motion for expunction on September 12, 2017, over three years after the notice deadline. Accordingly, his untimely filed notice of appeal prevents this court from acquiring jurisdiction over the appeal.
We also note that the trial court's certification of Appellant's right of appeal indicates this is a plea-bargain case from which Appellant has no right of appeal and that Appellant waived the right of appeal. An appeal must be dismissed if a certification showing the defendant has the right to appeal has not been made a part of the appellate record. See TEX. R. APP. P. 25.2(d).
Further, we note that Appellant seeks the expunction of his criminal record as it relates to this case. We have no authority to grant such relief. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 55.02 (West Supp. 2016).
We, therefore, dismiss Appellant's appeal and motion for expunction for want of jurisdiction.
Per Curiam Do not publish.