Gina Estrada v. The State of Texas--Appeal from County Court of Ector County

COURT OF APPEALS

EIGHTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

EL PASO, TEXAS

GINA ESTRADA, )

) No. 08-02-00263-CR

Appellant, )

) Appeal from the

v. )

) County Court at Law #2

THE STATE OF TEXAS, )

) of Ector County, Texas

Appellee. )

) (TC# 02-0267)

)

O P I N I O N

This attempted appeal is before the Court on its own motion for determination of jurisdiction. Finding that the order appealed from is not a final judgment, nor an interlocutory order made appealable by statute, we dismiss the attempted appeal.

Gina Estrada is under indictment for possession of marijuana. She filed a motion to suppress, which the trial court denied on April 30, 2002. Estrada filed a notice of appeal on June 12, 2002, stating she was appealing from the order denying her motion to suppress. On June 24, 2002, this Court sent the parties our notice of intent to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction if within thirteen days no party could show grounds for continuing the appeal. We have received no response to that notice.

Denial of Suppression Motion not Appealable

Generally, we only have jurisdiction to consider an appeal by a criminal defendant where there has been a judgment of conviction. Ex parte Culver, 932 S.W.2d 207, 210 (Tex.App.--El Paso 1996, pet. ref=d); McKown v. State, 915 S.W.2d 160, 161 (Tex.App.--Fort Worth 1996, no pet.). We do not have jurisdiction to review interlocutory orders unless that jurisdiction has been expressly granted to us by law. Apolinarv. State, 820 S.W.2d 792, 794 (Tex.Crim.App. 1991); Culver, 932 S.W.2d at 210; McKown, 915 S.W.2d at 161. A defendant=s appeal from the denial of a motion to suppress is not an exception to the general rule that interlocutory orders are not appealable. See Tex.Code Crim.Proc.Ann. art. 44.02 (Vernon 1979); McKown, 915 S.W.2d at 161.[1]

We lack jurisdiction to address the issue in this attempted appeal at this time, as the denial of a defendant=s motion to suppress evidence is not immediately appealable. We therefore dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

July 25, 2002

DAVID WELLINGTON CHEW, Justice

Before Panel No. 3

Barajas, C.J., Larsen, and Chew, JJ.

(Do Not Publish)

[1] The State is expressly granted the right to an interlocutory appeal of the granting of a suppression motion. Tex.Code Crim.Proc.Ann. art. 44.01(a)(5)(Vernon Supp. 2002). No reciprocal right is granted to the defendant, however, where a motion to suppress is denied.