Opinion
No. 06-04-00129-CR
Submitted: September 9, 2004.
Decided: September 10, 2004. DO NOT PUBLISH.
Original Habeas Corpus Proceeding.
Before MORRISS, C.J., ROSS and CARTER, JJ.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Terry Lewis Miller seeks post-conviction relief pursuant to Chapter Eleven of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Miller has asked us to provide additional judicial review of his Gregg County conviction for aggravated assault. In his application, Miller first contends he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. He next asserts his guilty plea was not willingly and voluntarily given. Finally, Miller asks this Court to provide him with copies of his appellate record pursuant to Article 40.09 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure so that he may seek additional relief elsewhere. This Court's original and appellate jurisdiction is limited by the Texas Constitution and by the statutes promulgated by the Texas Legislature. The Texas Constitution grants this Court with original jurisdiction only in cases where specifically prescribed by law. TEX. CONST. art. V, § 6. As it relates to the case now before us, we are not among the list of courts authorized by the Texas Legislature to issue post-conviction writs of habeas corpus; only the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the district courts, the county courts, and any judge of those courts, have the power to issue post-conviction writs of habeas corpus. TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 11.05 (Vernon 1977). We also are not authorized under TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. § 22.221 (Vernon 2004) to consider an original habeas corpus application. Our law requires that post-conviction applications for writs of habeas corpus, for felony cases in which the death penalty was not assessed, be filed in the court of original conviction, made returnable to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 11.07(3)(a) (b) (Vernon Supp. 2004-2005). We are, therefore, without jurisdiction to consider Miller's post-conviction application for writ of habeas corpus. See Watson v. State, 96 S.W.3d 497, 500 (Tex. App.-Amarillo 2002, pet. ref'd) (dismissing two points of error within appeal of denial of motion for post-conviction DNA testing because those points of appeal amounted to request for original habeas relief, which court was without jurisdiction to grant). We dismiss Miller's application for a post-conviction writ of habeas corpus in this case for want of jurisdiction.
For our disposition in Miller's other application for writ of habeas corpus, please see our opinion issued this day in Ex parte Miller, No. 06-04-000130-CR (Sept. 10, 2004, orig. proceeding) (not designated for publication).
We recently affirmed Miller's conviction on direct appeal. See Miller v. State, No. 06-03-00179-CR, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 1715 (Tex. App.-Texarkana Feb. 27, 2004, pet. ref'd) (mem. op.) (not designated for publication). Our mandates in that case issued on June 22, 2004.
Article 40.09 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure was repealed in 1986. See Act of May 27, 1985, 69th Leg., R.S., ch. 685, § 1, 1985 Tex. Gen. Laws 2472, 2472. Miller should contact the trial court for copies of the record in his cases.