Damon Cole v. The State of Texas Appeal from 297th District Court of Tarrant County (memorandum opinion)
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In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________ No. 02-20-00096-CR ___________________________ DAMON COLE, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS On Appeal from the 297th District Court Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. 1640484D Before Sudderth, C.J.; Womack and Wallach, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Womack MEMORANDUM OPINION Appellant Damon Cole attempts to appeal from the trial court’s order granting the State’s pretrial “Motion to Deny Bond.” Via letter, we notified Cole of our concern that we lack jurisdiction to consider the trial court’s order because it is not appealable. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.3; Ragston v. State, 424 S.W.3d 49, 52 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014). This court also informed Cole that unless he or any party desiring to continue the appeal filed with this court a response showing grounds for continuing the appeal, the appeal may be dismissed. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.3. Cole did not file a response. Generally, this court has jurisdiction to consider appeals by criminal defendants only after a judgment of conviction. See McKown v. State, 915 S.W.2d 160, 161 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 1996, no pet.); see also Workman v. State, 343 S.W.2d 446, 447 (Tex. Crim. App. 1961). We do not have jurisdiction to hear interlocutory appeals from pretrial orders regarding the denial of bond sought by motion. Ragston, 424 S.W.3d at 52. But cf. Ex parte Peyton, No. 02-16-00029-CR, 2016 WL 2586698, at *1 n.2 (Tex. App.––Fort Worth May 5, 2016) (explaining that court of appeals does have jurisdiction over appeal from denial of pretrial habeas corpus application seeking bail reduction) (mem. op., not designated for publication), pet. dism’d, No. PD-0677-16, 2017 WL 1089960 (Tex. Crim. App. Mar. 22, 2017) (per curiam) (not designated for publication). Because Cole is attempting to appeal the trial court’s pretrial order 2 denying him bond on the State’s motion, we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction.1 See Tex. R. App. P. 43.2(f); Ragston, 424 S.W.3d at 52. /s/ Dana Womack Dana Womack Justice Do Not Publish Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b) Delivered: August 6, 2020 1 After filing his notice of appeal in the trial court, Cole filed a duplicate notice of appeal in this court. Accompanying his filing in this court, Cole filed a document titled “Appeal From Court’s Order Denying Bond.” In that document, Cole asks this court to grant his appeal and either set bond or order the trial court to set bond. Because we do not have jurisdiction over this case, we can take no action in this case other than to dismiss the appeal. See White v. State, 61 S.W.3d 424, 428 (Tex. Crim. App. 2001) (“If the jurisdiction of a court of appeals is not properly invoked, the power of the appellate court to act is as absent as if it did not exist.”). 3
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