Opinion
NUMBER 13-17-00300-CV
08-14-2017
IN RE D.G.
On Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus.
ORDER
Before Justices Rodriguez, Contreras, and Benavides
Per Curiam Order
Relator D.G., proceeding pro se, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the above cause through which he contends that he has been wrongfully imprisoned. Relator asserts that he was adjudicated delinquent in 1997 pursuant to a plea bargain and ordered committed to the Texas Youth Commission. The adjudication was for four counts of aggravated robbery for which relator was sentenced to a twenty-year determinate sentence. He was committed to the Texas Youth Commission with a possible transfer to TDCJ. Relator states that the court ordered him to remain in TYC until 21, with a transfer hearing to be held on or before his 18th birthday. Relator contends that he was transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice without the benefit of a court-ordered transfer hearing and has been incarcerated since that time. Relator contends that (1) the State breached the plea bargain; (2) relator was denied effective assistance of counsel; and (3) relator's guilty plea was involuntary.
This Court requested and received a response to the petition from the State of Texas, acting by and through the County and District Attorney for Cameron County, Texas. The State requested that we abate this original proceeding and remand it to the trial court on grounds that the writ should be presented to the trial court so that it can assess the merits of relator's complaints.
Accordingly, by order issued on June 23, 2017, we abated and remanded this original proceeding. We directed the trial court to cause notice of a hearing to be given and, thereafter, conduct a hearing, which may be evidentiary in nature, to determine whether relator's contentions have merit. We directed the trial court to further determine whether relator is indigent and entitled to the appointment of counsel.
We have now received the trial court's findings of fact and conclusions of law. The trial court has concluded, inter alia, that relator is not entitled to the appointment of counsel; that relator was entitled either to be released directly to adult parole or to have a transfer hearing; that relator was administratively released to adult parole when he was nineteen years old; and that there was no necessity for a transfer hearing because relator was administratively released to adult parole. The trial court concludes that "it was to Relator's benefit that a transfer hearing did not occur because the court would have had the option to send him to TDCJ-ID or release him to adult parole. Therefore, Relator has failed to show this Court how his trial counsel was ineffective or how the State breached the plea agreement." The trial court further stated any relief sought would be denied on the basis of laches because "relator has been out on parole for almost 17 years before he . . . raised his complaints."
The documents currently before this Court contain factual assertions which, on this record, are challenging to reconcile. Relator appears to argue that he is currently incarcerated based on the events at issue here, and includes an inmate "timeslip" in his appendix which includes a "begin date" of August 7, 1996, a "receive date" of November 2, 2005, a "total time credited" of approximately fourteen years, and a projected release date in April of 2023. The trial court's findings, in contrast, state that relator was released on adult parole for the events at issue more than seventeen years ago. We had requested that the trial court forward the reporter's record of the hearing on abatement in order to clarify some of these matters, but were informed that apparently a hearing was not held and there was no reporter's record.
Given the foregoing, we continue the abatement of this case. Upon remand, the trial court shall cause notice of a hearing to be given and, thereafter, conduct a hearing, which may be evidentiary in nature, to determine what exactly has happened in this case and whether relator is currently incarcerated as a result of the delinquency adjudication in 1997. The trial court shall cause its findings and recommendations, together with any orders it may enter regarding the aforementioned issues, along with a reporter's record of any proceedings, to be filed with the Clerk of this Court on or before the expiration of thirty days from the date of this order.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
PER CURIAM Delivered and filed this 14th day of August, 2017.