Opinion
No. 10-07-00195-CR
Opinion delivered and filed July 11, 2007. DO NOT PUBLISH.
Appeal from the 411th District Court San Jacinto County, Texas, Trial Court No. 8638.
Before Chief Justice GRAY, Justice VANCE, and Justice REYNA.
(Chief Justice GRAY concurs in the judgment, but not this opinion, without issuing a separate opinion)
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Wayne Burton seeks to appeal from the refusal of a San Jacinto County district court to grant his post-conviction habeas application. We will dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction for at least two reasons.
First, a writ of habeas corpus under article 11.07 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is the exclusive remedy available to challenge a final felony conviction after a direct appeal. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 11.07, § 5 (Vernon 2005); Olivo v. State, 918 S.W.2d 519, 525 n. 8 (Tex.Crim.App. 1996); Ex parte Mendenhall, 209 S.W.3d 260, 261 (Tex.App.-Waco 2006, no pet.). Although an application under article 11.07 must be filed with the trial court, the writ, which issues by operation of law, "must be made returnable to the Court of Criminal Appeals." TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 11.07, § 3 (Vernon 2005). "Therefore, this Court does not have jurisdiction to entertain a post-conviction felony habeas application or the purported appeal of a trial court's ruling on such an application." Mendenhall, 209 S.W.3d at 261.
Second, Burton brings this appeal from a district court in San Jacinto County. However, San Jacinto County lies within the geographic boundaries of the Ninth Court of Appeals District rather than the Tenth Court of Appeals District. See TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. § 22.201(j), (k) (Vernon Supp. 2006). This Court's appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases only reaches county and district courts within this Court's geographic boundaries. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 4.03 (Vernon 2005).
This Court affirmed Burton's San Jacinto County conviction for aggravated assault in an unpublished decision. See Frazier v. State, No. 10-04-235-CR, 2005 WL 2234002 (Tex.App.-Waco Sept. 14, 2005, pet. dism'd, untimely filed) (not designated for publication). That appeal was originally filed with the Ninth Court of Appeals but was transferred to this Court by the Supreme Court for docket equalization purposes. Burton's habeas application is an effort to have that conviction set aside. However, no similar transfer order has been issued for Burton's current appeal.
This Court does not have jurisdiction over a purported appeal in a post-conviction habeas matter, nor does this Court have appellate jurisdiction over criminal cases prosecuted in San Jacinto County. Accordingly, we dismiss Burton's appeal for want of jurisdiction.