In Re: Daniel Ellis Taylor--Appeal from of County

6-96-028-CV Long Trusts v. Dowd In The
Court of Appeals
Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana
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No. 06-02-00160-CV
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IN RE: DANIEL ELLIS TAYLOR

Original Mandamus Proceeding

 

 

Before Morriss, C.J., Grant and Ross, JJ.

Opinion by Justice Ross

 

O P I N I O N

 

Daniel Ellis Taylor, a prisoner at the McConnell Unit in Beeville, Texas, filed a petition for writ of mandamus against the Honorable Robert E. Newsom, trial judge for the 8th Judicial District Court of Hopkins County, Texas. Specifically, Taylor asks us to direct Judge Newsom to conduct an evidentiary hearing or rule on Taylor's motion to withdraw his plea agreement. Taylor has informed this Court that he pled guilty March 21, 1995, to intentionally and knowingly causing the death of Colten Thomas O'Hara, a child younger than six years of age. Pursuant to a plea agreement, the trial court sentenced Taylor to fifty years in prison.

At the outset, we note that Taylor's motion to withdraw his guilty plea, filed more than seven years after the plea, amounts to a collateral attack on his conviction. Such challenges are properly brought under Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 11.07 (Vernon Supp. 2002). We shall therefore consider the underlying motion as an application to the trial court for habeas corpus relief. If we considered the motion merely a post-trial challenge to the plea's voluntariness, the trial court would not err by denying his motion without a hearing because the lower court would lack jurisdiction to consider its merits. See Tex. R. App. P. 21.4, 22.3.

The courts of appeals have limited jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus. We may issue a writ when necessary to enforce this Court's jurisdiction. Tex. Gov't Code Ann. 22.221(a) (Vernon Supp. 2002). We may also issue writs of mandamus "agreeable to the principles of law regulating those writs" against a district or county court judge within our appellate district. Tex. Gov't Code Ann. 22.221(b)(1) (Vernon Supp. 2002). However, courts of appeals have no jurisdiction over post-conviction writs of habeas corpus in felony cases. Bd. of Pardons & Paroles ex rel. Keene v. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Dist., 910 S.W.2d 481, 483 (Tex. Crim. App. 1995); Ater v. Eighth Court of Appeals, 802 S.W.2d 241, 243 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991); In re McAfee, 53 S.W.3d 715, 717 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2001, orig. proceeding). Such jurisdiction lies exclusively with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 11.07, 5 (Vernon Supp. 2002). Accordingly, we may not consider Taylor's claims.

We dismiss the petition for want of jurisdiction.

 

Donald R. Ross

Justice

 

Date Submitted: October 2, 2002

Date Decided: October 3, 2002

 

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