From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Wylie v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas, Sixth District, Texarkana
Sep 14, 2021
No. 06-21-00083-CR (Tex. App. Sep. 14, 2021)

Opinion

06-21-00084-CR

09-14-2021

KENNETH WYLIE, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee


Do Not Publish

Submitted Date: September 13, 2021

On Appeal from the 4th District Court Rusk County, Texas Trial Court No. CR-90-002

Before Morriss, C.J., Burgess and Stevens, JJ.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Josh R. Morriss, III Chief Justice.

Pursuant to the terms of a plea agreement, Kenneth Wylie pled guilty to and was convicted of murder. On January 26, 1990, Wylie was sentenced to life imprisonment. On August 5, 2021, Wylie filed a pro se notice of appeal, purporting to appeal from the trial court's order denying his motion for entry of a judgment nunc pro tunc. There is no such order in the record filed with this Court, and the district clerk informs us that no such order was entered by the trial court.

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, it does not appear that we have jurisdiction to hear this appeal.

By letter dated August 11, 2021, we notified Wylie of this jurisdictional issue and afforded him an opportunity to respond. Wylie did not respond to our letter.

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.


Summaries of

Wylie v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas, Sixth District, Texarkana
Sep 14, 2021
No. 06-21-00083-CR (Tex. App. Sep. 14, 2021)
Case details for

Wylie v. State

Case Details

Full title:KENNETH WYLIE, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

Court:Court of Appeals of Texas, Sixth District, Texarkana

Date published: Sep 14, 2021

Citations

No. 06-21-00083-CR (Tex. App. Sep. 14, 2021)