in Re: Joe Trampas Benavides ( 2015 )

DISMISS and Opinion Filed March 25, 2015.
S In The
Court of Appeals
Fifth District of Texas at Dallas
No. 05-15-00341-CV
IN RE JOE TRAMPAS BENAVIDES, Relator
Original Proceeding from the 363rd Judicial District Court
Dallas County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. F99-21709-MW
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Justices Bridges, Stoddart, and Whitehill
Opinion by Justice Stoddart
Relator filed this petition for writ of mandamus requesting that the Court order the trial
court to enforce his plea agreement. A post-conviction petition for writ of mandamus premised
on failure to specifically enforce a plea agreement is an improper collateral attack on the
conviction. See In re Malone, No. 05-14-01458-CV, 2014 WL 6779279, at *2 (Tex. App.—
Dallas Dec. 2, 2014, orig. proceeding) (mem. op.) (concluding Court lacked jurisdiction over
complaint that trial court had failed to specifically enforce his plea agreement); In re Jackson,
No. 05–14–00988–CV, 2014 WL 3962822, at *1 (Tex. App.—Dallas Aug. 14, 2014, orig.
proceeding) (mem. op.) (same)
The only proper means of collaterally attacking confinement pursuant to a final felony
conviction is via petition for writ of habeas corpus under article 11.07 of the code of criminal
procedure. TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 11.07, § 5 (West Supp. 2014) (“After conviction
the procedure outlined in this Act shall be exclusive and any other proceeding shall be void and
of no force and effect in discharging the prisoner.”). This Court has no jurisdiction over
complaints that should be raised by post-conviction habeas corpus proceedings brought under
article 11.07. See TEX. CODE CRIM. P. ANN. arts. 11.05, 11.07 (West 2005 & Supp. 2014); see
also Ater v. Eighth Court of Appeals, 802 S.W.2d 241, 243 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991) (orig.
proceeding) (in granting writ of mandamus to vacate judgment of conviction, court of appeals
usurped exclusive authority of court of criminal appeals to grant post-conviction relief).
We DISMISS the petition for want of jurisdiction.
/ Craig Stoddart/
CRAIG STODDART
JUSTICE
150341F.P05
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