Texas v. Brent (original by judge keel)
Annotate this CaseThe Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted review to decide whether a trial court has never-ending jurisdiction to grant “judicial clemency” after discharging a defendant from community supervision. In 2016, Appellee Lakesia Brent was convicted of Class B misdemeanor theft, and the trial court assessed her punishment at six months in jail but suspended the sentence and placed her on community supervision for a year. In 2017, the trial court entered an order terminating community supervision on a form that gave the trial court a number of options. The court chose, “The period having expired, defendant is discharged by operation of law.” It did not not choose, among other possibilities, “The Court finds defendant has satisfactorily fulfilled the conditions of supervision. Accordingly, this Court ORDERS the verdict set aside; the indictment, complaint, or information dismissed; and defendant discharged from supervision.” This latter option was often called “judicial clemency.” On November 1, 2019, Appellee moved the trial court to enter an order granting judicial clemency. The State objected for lack of jurisdiction because the motion was filed more than 30 days after Appellee was discharged from supervision. The trial court concluded that it had jurisdiction because the statute at issue expressed no time limit, policy considerations support the lack of a time limit, and Appellee was “rehabilitated and ready to re-take her place in law-abiding society.” The court of appeals saw “no textual basis for” requiring discharge and judicial clemency to occur together. The Court of Criminal Appeals concluded a trial court does not have never-ending jurisdiction to grant judicial clemency: under the plain terms of Article 42A.701(f), judicial clemency "hangs on a defendant’s performance on and discharge from community supervision. In the absence of any other source of jurisdiction, a trial court’s power to grant judicial clemency is limited to its 30-day plenary power." Judgment was reversed and the case remanded to the trial court to rescind its order setting aside Appellee's conviction, and to dismiss her motion for judicial clemency.
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