Opinion
06-21-00139-CR
01-19-2022
JEFFREY LEE PLUNKETT, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
Do Not Publish
Date Submitted: January 18, 2022
On Appeal from the County Court at Law Panola County, Texas Trial Court No. 2003-C-018-CCL
Before Morriss, C.J., Burgess and Stevens, JJ.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Ralph K. Burgess Justice
Jeffrey Lee Plunkett filed a pro se notice of appeal purporting to appeal from the trial court's refusal to respond to his application for a writ of habeas corpus. The record reflects that Plunkett did not file an application for a writ of habeas corpus in the trial court. Instead, the document Plunkett filed was a request for a complete copy of his trial records, free of charge.The trial court did not act on Plunket's purported application for a writ of habeas corpus. Plunkett now attempts to appeal from the trial court's failure to act, claiming that his application was overruled by operation of law. We find no appealable order in the record before this Court.
In 2003 in Panola County, Plunkett was convicted of murder and sentenced to fifty years' incarceration.
In Texas, a party may only appeal when the Texas Legislature has authorized an appeal. Galitz v. State, 617 S.W.2d 949, 951 (Tex. Crim. App. 1981). When the Legislature passes legislation granting a right of appeal, in addition to granting its citizens that substantive right, it also grants the appellate courts of this State jurisdiction to hear such appeals. In the absence of such authorizing legislation, appellate courts are without jurisdiction and have no authority to act.
In the criminal context, the Texas Legislature has authorized appeals from written final judgments and certain specific interlocutory orders. See Gutierrez v. State, 307 S.W.3d 318, 321 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). As noted above, there is no appealable order in the appellate record filed with this Court. Consequently, we do not have jurisdiction to hear this appeal.
By letter dated December 13, 2021, we notified Plunkett of this jurisdictional issue and afforded him an opportunity to respond. Plunkett did not file a response.
Because there is no appealable order in the appellate record, we lack jurisdiction over this appeal. Consequently, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.