Opinion
03-21-00557-CV
02-01-2022
In re Val C. Fisher, Jr.
ORIGINAL PROCEEDING FROM BELL COUNTY
Before Chief Justice Byrne, Justices Kelly and Smith
MEMORANDUM OPINION
DARLENE BYRNE, CHIEF JUSTICE
Relator has filed a pro se application for writ of habeas corpus seeking release from confinement in the county jail while awaiting trial. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 17.151(1).
This Court does not have original habeas-corpus jurisdiction in criminal cases. See Tex. Const. art. V, § 6 (providing that courts of appeals "shall have original or appellate jurisdiction, under such restrictions and regulations as may be prescribed by law"); Tex. Gov't Code § 22.221(d) (limiting original habeas-corpus jurisdiction of courts of appeals to situations where relator's liberty is restrained by virtue of order, process, or commitment issued by court or judge in civil case); see also Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 11.05 (vesting "power to issue the writ of habeas corpus" in "[t]he Court of Criminal Appeals, the District Courts, the County Courts, or any Judge of said Courts"). As an intermediate appellate court, our habeas-corpus jurisdiction in criminal matters is appellate only. See Tex. Gov't Code § 22.221(d); see also In re Wilkins, No. 03-20-00381-CV, 2020 WL 5608486, at *1 (Tex. App.-Austin Sept. 17, 2020, orig. proceeding).
Accordingly, we dismiss relator's application for writ of habeas corpus for want of jurisdiction. See Tex. R. App. P. 52.8(a).