Opinion
04-24-00227-CR
10-03-2024
Dontre La Ron NESTLE, Appellant v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee
From the 144th Judicial District Court, Bexar County, Texas Trial Court No. 2018CR7780W Honorable Michael E. Mery, Judge Presiding
ORDER
LIZA A. RODRIGUEZ, JUSTICE
On January 15, 2019, appellant pled nolo contendere to robbery and was sentenced to ten years in prison. The trial court suspended his sentence and placed appellant on community supervision for five years in accordance with the terms of his plea-bargain agreement. On November 12, 2019, the State filed a motion to revoke community supervision, which it later amended. On July 16, 2024, the trial court revoked appellant's community supervision, sentenced him to ten years in prison, and signed a certification of defendant's right to appeal stating, "the defendant has waived the right of appeal." Appellant timely filed a notice of appeal. After appellant filed his notice of appeal, the trial court clerk sent copies of the certification and notice of appeal to this court. See TEX. R. APP. P. 25.2(e).
Rule 25.2(a)(2) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure requires "[t]he trial court [to] enter a certification of the defendant's right of appeal in every case in which it enters a judgment of guilt or other appealable order." TEX. R. APP. P. 25.2(a)(2). This court must dismiss an appeal "if a certification that shows the defendant has the right of appeal has not been made part of the record." TEX. R. APP. P. 25.2(d). However, we are first "obligated to review" the record to ascertain whether the certification is defective. Dears v. State, 154 S.W.3d 610, 615 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005). A certification is "defective" if it "proves to be inaccurate" "when compared with the record before the court." Id. at 614.
Here, nothing in the clerk's record demonstrates appellant waived the right to appeal the judgment revoking his community supervision. Because the certification appears to be inaccurate, and therefore defective, this appeal may not proceed on the merits. See TEX. R. APP. P. 25.2(d). To ensure appellant's "right to appeal is not abridged due to 'defects or irregularities' which can be corrected," we ABATE this appeal for a period of twenty-one days to allow the trial court to review the record and to either (1) submit an amended Rule 25.2 certification that comports with the record or (2) direct the trial court clerk to file a supplemental clerk's record that evidences the appellant waived his right to appeal. See Dears, 154 S.W.3d at 614-15; TEX. R. APP. P. 34.5(c), 37.1.
We ORDER the trial court clerk to file a supplemental record containing any amended certification signed by the trial court and/or a record showing appellant waived his right to appeal not later than October 31, 2024.
We ORDER the clerk of this court to serve copies of this order on the attorneys of record, the trial court judge, and the trial court clerk.