Opinion
WR-94,896-01
02-07-2024
EX PARTE FEDERICO VILLA, Applicant
DO NOT PUBLISH
ON APPLICATION FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS CAUSE NO. CR11824-A IN THE 90TH DISTRICT COURT FROM YOUNG COUNTY
ORDER
PER CURIAM.
Applicant was convicted of felony driving while intoxicated - 3rd or more and sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment. Applicant filed this application for a writ of habeas corpus in the county of conviction, and the district clerk forwarded it to this Court. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 11.07.
Applicant contends that he should not have been convicted of a felony DWI. Specifically, he contends that one of the jurisdictional DWI convictions alleged in the indictment was not a final conviction and so it did not operate to make this DWI offense a felony. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. 49.09(b); Ex parte Sparks, 206 S.W.3d 680, 682 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006).
This Court remanded this application to the trial court. This Court ordered the trial court to determine whether the improperly-alleged DWI conviction could have been replaced with a properly alleged, valid enhancement conviction. See Ex parte Rodgers, 598 S.W.3d 262, 271 (Tex. Crim. App. 2020). The trial court found on remand that "[N]o prior convictions for driving while intoxicated were used nor intended to be used to enhance the current offense to a felony." The trial court's finding does not directly resolve the question whether the improperly-alleged DWI conviction could have been replaced with a valid enhancement conviction.
This Court remands this application a second time for the trial court to determine whether the improperly-alleged DWI conviction could have been replaced with a valid jurisdictional-enhancement conviction. The trial court may make any other findings and conclusions that it deems appropriate in response to Applicant's claims.
The trial court shall make findings of fact and conclusions of law within ninety days from the date of this order. The district clerk shall then immediately forward to this Court the trial court's findings and conclusions and the record developed on remand, including, among other things, affidavits, motions, objections, proposed findings and conclusions, orders, and transcripts from hearings and depositions. See Tex. R. App. P. 73.4(b)(4). Any extensions of time must be requested by the trial court and obtained from this Court.