Opinion
NO. 03-19-00906-CR
08-12-2020
Ex parte Emmanuel Poulis
FROM THE 368TH DISTRICT COURT OF WILLIAMSON COUNTY
NO. 16-1746-K368 , THE HONORABLE RICK J. KENNON, JUDGE PRESIDING MEMORANDUM OPINION
Appellant Emmanuel Poulis was charged by indictment with multiple child sexual abuse offenses: three counts of sexual assault of a child and three counts of sexual performance by a child. See Tex. Penal Code §§ 22.011, 43.25. By pretrial application for writ of habeas corpus, see Tex. Code Crim. Proc. arts. 11.01, 11.08, appellant sought to challenge the constitutionality of article 38.37(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows the admission of evidence in a trial for certain enumerated sexual crimes against children that the defendant has committed extraneous child sexual abuse offenses. See id. art. 38.37(b). After conducting a hearing, the trial court entered an order dismissing the application. Appellant filed a notice of appeal from the trial court's order.
During the pendency of this appeal, appellant was tried by a jury, found guilty, and sentenced to prison on the three sexual assault counts. In addition, the three counts of sexual performance of a child have been dismissed. Because appellant has now been convicted and sentenced to prison for three counts and the other three counts have been dismissed, he is no longer subject to pretrial confinement for the charged offenses. Thus, the appeal of the trial court's ruling on appellant's pretrial application for writ of habeas corpus has been rendered moot. See Ex parte Tucker, 3 S.W.3d 576, 576 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999); Martinez v. State, 826 S.W.2d 620, 620 (Tex. Crim. App. 1992); Armendarez v. State, 798 S.W.2d 291, 291 (Tex. Crim. App. 1990); Ex parte Ford, No. 03-19-00638-CR, 2020 WL 102013, at *1 (Tex. App.—Austin Jan. 9, 2020, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication); Ex parte Valero, No. 03-16-00859-CR, 2017 WL 3897264, at *1 (Tex. App.—Austin Aug. 24, 2017, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication); Alexander v. State, No. 03-13-00337-CR, 2014 WL 3562719, at *1 (Tex. App.-Austin July 18, 2014, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication). Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal as moot.
The clerk's record in appellate cause number 03-20-00151-CR (trial-court number 16-1746-K36) contains the trial court's judgments of conviction, entered on February 13, 2020, convicting appellant of three counts of sexual assault and sentencing him to confinement for twenty years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for each count.
The clerk's record in appellate cause number 03-20-00151-CR (trial-court number 16-1746-K36) also contains three orders, signed by the trial court on March 4, 2020, dismissing the three counts of sexual performance by a child because appellant had been convicted of the three counts of sexual assault of a child.
/s/_________
Melissa Goodwin, Justice Before Justices Goodwin, Kelly, and Smith Dismissed as Moot Filed: August 12, 2020 Do Not Publish