Wesley Troy Shields ( 2021 )

In the
Court of Appeals
Second Appellate District of Texas
at Fort Worth
___________________________
No. 02-21-00022-CR
No. 02-21-00023-CR
No. 02-21-00024-CR
No. 02-21-00025-CR
No. 02-21-00026-CR
No. 02-21-00027-CR
___________________________
WESLEY TROY SHIELDS, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS
On Appeal from the 372nd District Court
Tarrant County, Texas
Trial Court Nos. 1581601D, 1581798D, 1591900R, 1600961D, 1647523D, 1652306R
AND
No. 02-21-00043-CR
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EX PARTE WESLEY TROY SHIELDS
On Appeal from County Criminal Court No. 5
Tarrant County, Texas
Trial Court No. 1567657
Before Birdwell, Bassel, and Womack, JJ.
Memorandum Opinion by Justice Birdwell
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Throughout 2019 and 2020, appellant Wesley Troy Shields filed a series of
habeas applications seeking a bond reduction, along with a motion and a letter
presenting similar requests. On March 1, 2021, the trial court held a hearing on Shields’s
requests and signed several certificates of proceedings indicating that the trial court
altered the bond for many of Shields’s cases. Shields appealed the constitutionality of
the trial court’s actions. He maintained that at the same time the trial court had lowered
bond for some of his cases, the court had raised bond for others, such that the net
reduction was only $10,000.
On March 29, 2021, we notified Shields of our concern that we lacked
jurisdiction over his appeals because the trial court had not rendered any appealable
written orders. We generally have jurisdiction to consider an appeal in a criminal case
only when there has been a judgment of conviction. See McKown v. State, 915 S.W.2d
160, 161 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 1996, no pet.) (per curiam); see also Ragston v. State,
424 S.W.3d 49, 52 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014). In this case, the trial court has not signed a
written order denying Shields’s pro se requests for habeas relief; this court has
previously rejected urgings to treat certificates of proceedings as appealable orders. See
Ex parte Darnell, Nos. 02-19-00466-CR, 02-20-00046-CR, 02-20-00047-CR, 2020 WL
1293692, at *3 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Mar. 19, 2020, pet. ref’d) (mem. op., not
designated for publication); Langlais v. State, No. 02-17-00248-CR, 2017 WL 4296447,
at *1 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Sept. 28, 2017, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for
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publication); see also State v. Wachtendorf, 475 S.W.3d 895, 904 (Tex. Crim. App. 2015).
In our letter, we stated that unless Shields or another party filed a response within ten
days showing grounds for continuing the appeals, we could dismiss the appeals. Tex.
R. App. P. 44.3. We sent Shields a similar letter on May 4, 2021, again warning him of
the possibility of dismissal unless a response was filed within ten days that justified
retaining the appeals.
As of today’s date, we have not received a response. Accordingly, we dismiss
these appeals for want of jurisdiction. Tex. R. App. P. 43.2(f).
/s/ Wade Birdwell
Wade Birdwell
Justice
Do Not Publish
Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b)
Delivered: June 17, 2021
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