Opinion
05-21-00704-CR
05-25-2022
JEROME JOHNSON, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the Criminal District Court No. 1 Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. F01-53637-JH
ORDER
ERIN A. NOWELL JUSTICE
Before the Court is appellant's motion for injunctive relief. Appellant contends that Officer Kizzie, the property officer at the Estelle Unit where appellant is located, wrongly confiscated his legal property related to his appeal when he was transported to the trial court for a hearing. Appellant asks this Court to order Officer Kizzie and Head Warden Lam to return his property to him.
The courts of appeals have limited injunctive powers. Each court of appeals may issue all "writs necessary to enforce the jurisdiction of the court." Tex. Gov't Code Ann. § 22.221(a). A court of appeals "has no original jurisdiction to grant writs of injunction, except to protect its jurisdiction over the subject matter of a pending appeal, or to prevent an unlawful interference with the enforcement of its judgments and decrees." Ott v. Bell, 606 S.W.2d 955, 957 (Tex. Civ. App.-Waco 1980, no writ). A party seeking extraordinary relief, such as a writ of injunction, must file a petition with the Clerk of the Court. See Tex. R. App. P. 52.1 ("An original appellate proceeding seeking extraordinary relief-such as a writ of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, injunction, or quo warranto--is commenced by filing a petition with the clerk of the appropriate appellate court. The petition must be captioned 'In re [name of relator].'").
We first note that appellant filed a motion in his pending appeal, rather than a petition with the Clerk as required by Rule 52.1. Nevertheless, even if we consider his motion, appellant (who has an appeal pending in which the briefs have been filed and the case is at issue) has not shown that a writ of injunction is necessary to protect our jurisdiction over his pending appeal in this Court or to prevent the interference with the enforcement of one of this Court's judgments. In re Birchett, No. 05-19-00600-CV, 2019 WL 2353450, at *1 (Tex. App.-Dallas June 4, 2019, orig. proceeding) (mem. op.). Under these circumstances, we must DENY appellant's motion.
We DIRECT the Clerk to send a copy of this order to Jerome Johnson, TDCJ #01198301, Estelle Unit, 264 FM 3478, Huntsville, TX 77320-3320; and the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, Appellate Division.