Brian Stephens v. State of Texas--Appeal from 399th Judicial District Court of Bexar County

No. 04-01-00288-CR
Brian Keith STEPHENS,
Appellant
v.
The STATE of Texas,
Appellee

From the 399th Judicial District Court, Bexar County, Texas
Trial Court No. 2000-CR-1801
Honorable Juanita Vasquez-Gardner, Judge Presiding

PER CURIAM

Sitting: Phil Hardberger, Chief Justice

Sarah B. Duncan, Justice

Karen Angelini, Justice

Delivered and Filed: July 25, 2001

DISMISSED FOR LACK OF JURISDICTION

Brian Stephens pled nolo contendere to murder and was sentenced to thirty years in prison in accordance with the terms of his plea bargain agreement. Stephens filed a general notice of appeal from the trial court's judgment.

To invoke the court's jurisdiction over this appeal, Rule 25.2(b)(3) requires that the notice of appeal state the appeal is from a jurisdictional defect, the substance of the appeal was raised by written motion and ruled on before trial, or the trial court granted permission to appeal. Tex. R. App. P. 25.2(b)(3). Young v. State, 8 S.W.3d 656, 666-67 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000); see State v. Riewe, 13 S.W.3d 408 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000). Because Stephens' general notice of appeal did not meet any of the requirements of Rule 25.2(b)(3), this court only has jurisdiction to consider issues relating to the trial court's jurisdiction. See Cooper v. State, 45 S.W.3d 77 (Tex. Crim. App. 2001); Watson v. State, 924 S.W.2d 711, 714-15 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996); Martinez v. State, 5 S.W.3d 722, 724-25 (Tex. App.-San Antonio 1999, no pet.).

Given the jurisdictional limits on Stephens' appeal, we ordered appellate counsel to submit a letter identifying the issues to be raised on appeal and explaining how this court had jurisdiction to consider those issues. Appellate counsel did not respond. The record fails to demonstrate that an issue exists relating to the trial court's jurisdiction. Because the appeal does not raise any issues this court has jurisdiction to consider, the appeal is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

PER CURIAM

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