Opinion
14-23-00277-CR
10-17-2023
EX PARTE RONALD ORTIZ-NAVARRETE
Do Not Publish - Tex.R.App.P. 47.2(b)
On Appeal from the 400th District Court Fort Bend County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 23-DCR-102952.
Panel consists of Chief Justice Christopher and Justices Bourliot and Hassan.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
PER CURIAM
Appellant was charged by indictment with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. See Tex. Penal Code § 22.02(a)(2). Appellant filed a pretrial application for writ of habeas corpus seeking release for lack of probable cause. On April 20, 2023, the trial court denied appellant's motion. The following day, appellant filed a notice of appeal.
During the pendency of this appeal, the trial court dismissed the indictment against appellant on the State's motion. A supplemental clerk's record filed with this court contains an order, signed by the trial court on August 29, 2023, dismissing the case. Because the indictment against appellant has been dismissed, he is no longer subject to pretrial confinement for the charged offense. The longstanding rule in Texas regarding habeas corpus is that "where the premise of a habeas corpus application is destroyed by subsequent developments, the legal issues raised thereunder are rendered moot." Saucedo v. State, 795 S.W.2d 8, 9 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1990, no writ) (citing Ex parte Branch, 553 S.W.2d 380 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997)). Thus, the appeal of the trial court's denial of appellant's pretrial application for writ of habeas corpus has been rendered moot. See Ex parte Castillo, No. 03-20-00260-CR, 2020 WL 4462315 at *1 (Tex. App.- Austin July 17, 2020, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication).
On September 5, 2023, the State filed a motion to dismiss the appeal for mootness. We requested a response from appellant to the motion. Appellant did not respond. Accordingly, we grant the state's motion and dismiss the appeal as moot.