Opinion
NO. 03-20-00091-CR
03-20-2020
Donald Lee Tretter, Appellant v. The State of Texas, Appellee
FROM THE 426TH DISTRICT COURT OF BELL COUNTY
NO. 66243 , THE HONORABLE JOE CARROLL, JUDGE PRESIDING MEMORANDUM OPINION
In cause number 66243, a jury convicted appellant Donald Lee Tretter of murdering his wife, see Tex. Penal Code § 19.02(b)(1)-(2), and the trial court sentenced appellant to serve forty years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, see Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 37.07(2)(b); Tex. Penal Code § 12.32.
On direct appeal, this Court affirmed appellant's conviction, see Tretter v. State, No. 03-12-00034-CR, 2014 WL 3893016, at *11 (Tex. App.—Austin Aug. 7, 2014, pet. ref'd, untimely filed) (mem. op., not designated for publication), and issued a mandate affirming the trial court's judgment of conviction.
Appellant subsequently filed an application for postconviction writ of habeas corpus, see Tex. Code Crim Proc. art. 11.07, § 1, which the Court of Criminal Appeals denied. See website of Court of Criminal Appeals, http://search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=WR-84,962-01&coa=coscca.
On February 4, 2020, this Court received a document that the district clerk filed as a notice of appeal. Appellant has already appealed his murder conviction, and mandate has issued. He is not entitled to a second appeal of this conviction. See Hines v. State, 70 S.W. 955, 957 (Tex. Crim. App. 1902) ("[O]nly one appeal can be made from a verdict and judgment of conviction in any case."). Therefore, this Court lacks jurisdiction to consider a second appeal from appellant's final conviction. Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 43.2(f); see, e.g., Parrett v. State, No. 03-14-00273-CR, 2014 WL 2521954, at *1 (Tex. App.—Austin May 30, 2014, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication) (dismissing for want of jurisdiction defendant's subsequent appeal of conviction that had previously been affirmed); McDonald v. State, 401 S.W.3d 360, 361-63 (Tex. App.—Amarillo 2013, pet. ref'd) (same).
The document was a letter addressed to the trial-court judge that stated, "Please allow this letter to show intent to appeal the conviction of Donald L. Tretter, Cause No. 66-243 by way of actual innocense [sic]."
/s/_________
Melissa Goodwin, Justice Before Justices Goodwin, Kelly, and Smith Dismissed for Want of Jurisdiction Filed: March 20, 2020 Do Not Publish