In re Cornelius Melvin Lee Crawford--Appeal from 186th Judicial District Court of Bexar County

PER CURIAM

Sitting: Catherine Stone, Justice

Paul W. Green, Justice

Phylis J. Speedlin, Justice

Delivered and Filed: July 23, 2003

PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS DENIED

On June 27, 2003, relator, Cornelius Melvin Lee Crawford, filed a motion for leave to file a petition for writ of mandamus and a petition for writ of mandamus. Crawford was found guilty of three separate charges of robbery and sentenced to ten years confinement in January 1999. He was subsequently granted probation in each case. Crawford violated a term of his probation when he left a restitution center without permission and committed a bank robbery. He was arrested and taken into federal custody. According to Crawford, as a result of the federal charges related to the bank robbery, the State subsequently sought to revoke his probation. In October 2002, Crawford was found guilty by a federal court for federal offenses and sentenced to 151 months in a federal facility.

After the State moved to revoke Crawford's probation, Crawford filed a motion in the state court proceeding requesting that the trial court have his state sentences reduced and run concurrently with his federal sentence. That motion was denied by the trial court at the hearing on the motion to revoke held on May 12, 2003. In the same May 12, 2003 hearing, Crawford pled true to the State's motion to revoke his probation. He was sentenced to seven years confinement and fined $ 1,000 in each case. The trial court ordered that the sentences in each case were to run concurrently. Crawford appealed. The trial court entered a certification in each case certifying that it "is not a plea bargain case, and that the defendant has the right of appeal." (2) In his petition, Crawford requests that this court order the trial court to issue a "nunc pro tunc consolidation order" ordering that his state sentences run concurrently with his federal sentence and grant him credit for time served.

Mandamus will only issue where the record establishes (1) a clear abuse of discretion or the violation of a duty imposed by law, and (2) the absence of a clear and adequate remedy at law. See Walker v. Packer, 827 S.W.2d 833, 839-40 (Tex. 1992); Dickens v. Court of Appeals for Second Supreme Judicial Dist. of Tex., 727 S.W.2d 542, 548 (Tex. Crim. App. 1987). With regard to the second element, mandamus will not issue where there is a clear and adequate remedy at law, such as a normal appeal. Walker, 827 S.W.2d at 840. A writ will only issue in situations involving manifest and urgent necessity. Id. A relator must establish the lack of an adequate remedy. Id.

In his petition, Crawford alleges that he "has no adequate remedy at law other than a writ of mandamus." Crawford, however, has not made a showing or established the lack of an adequate remedy, such as a normal appeal. On the contrary, the clerk's record filed in the appeals from the same judgment establishes that he does have the remedy of an ordinary appeal. Crawford is complaining of the trial court's refusal to have his state court sentences run concurrently with his federal sentence and grant him credit for all time served in federal custody. As a result of the certifications entered in Crawford's appeals, the trial court has given Crawford the right to appeal this issue.

This court has determined that Crawford is not entitled to the relief sought. Therefore, the petition and the motion for leave to file a petition for writ of mandamus are denied. See Tex. R. App. P. 52.8(a).

PER CURIAM

1. This proceeding arises out of Cause Nos. 1998-CR-3005, 1998-CR-3006 & 1998-CR-3007, styled The State of Texas v. Melvin Lee Crawford, pending in the 186th Judicial District Court, Bexar County, Texas, the Honorable Pat Priest presiding.

2. An appellate court may take judicial notice of its own record in the same or related proceedings. See Turner v. State, 733 S.W.2d 218, 223 (Tex. Crim. App. 1987); Salinas v. State, 542 S.W.2d 864, 867 (Tex. Crim. App. 1976). For this reason, we can consider the judgment and certification of defendant's right of appeal contained in the clerk's record filed in Crawford's related appeals.