Kevin Lee Chudej v. The State of Texas--Appeal from 54th District Court of McLennan County

IN THE

TENTH COURT OF APPEALS

No. 10-08-00040-CR

Kevin Lee Chudej,

Appellant

v.

The State of Texas,

Appellee

From the 54th District Court

McLennan County, Texas

Trial Court No. 2005-187-C

Opinion

Kevin Lee Chudej appeals from an order issued under section 501.014(e) of the Government Code directing the Department of Criminal Justice to withdraw funds from his inmate trust account for payment of court costs and fees incurred in connection with his felony conviction. Because this is a criminal law matter and because no statute authorizes such an appeal, we will dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.

This Court has appellate jurisdiction in a criminal case only when expressly provided by law. Kelly v. State, 151 S.W.3d 683, 685 (Tex. App. Waco 2004, no pet.); see also Rushing v. State, 85 S.W.3d 283, 285 (Tex. Crim. App. 2002) (right to appeal is derived entirely from statute ). No statute authorizes an appeal from an order under section 501.014(e). See Gross v. State, No. 07-06-00489-CR, 2007 WL 2089365, at *2 (Tex. App. Amarillo July 23, 2007, no pet.); contra Abdullah v. State, 211 S.W.3d 938 (Tex. App. Texarkana 2007, no pet.) (addressing merits of such an appeal).

Therefore, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.[1]

PER CURIAM

Before Chief Justice Gray,

Justice Vance, and

Justice Reyna

(Chief Justice Gray dissenting)

Appeal dismissed

Opinion delivered and filed March 12, 2008

Publish

[CR25]

[1] Chudej is not necessarily without a remedy. See In re Keeling, 227 S.W.3d 391 (Tex. App. Waco 2007, orig. proceeding).