in Re Nii-Otabil Nelson ( 2015 )

Opinion issued April 16, 2015
In The
Court of Appeals
For The
First District of Texas
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NO. 01-15-00313-CR
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IN RE NII-OTABIL NELSON, Relator
Original Proceeding on Application for Writ of Habeas Corpus
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Relator, Nii-Otabil Nelson, proceeding pro se and incarcerated, has filed an
“Ex Parte Emergency Application for Writ of Habeas Corpus Seeking Bail,”
contending that he is being unlawfully confined in the Harris County Jail without
the benefit of bail, pending a motion to adjudicate for the offense of alleged
violation of the terms of his community supervision. 1 We dismiss the application
for want of jurisdiction.
This Court does not have original habeas corpus jurisdiction of a bail issue
in criminal cases. See Ortiz v. State, 299 S.W.3d 930, 932 (Tex. App.—Amarillo
2009, no pet.) (citations omitted); see also In re Estrada, Jr., No. 01-14-00819-CR,
2014 WL 5780339, at *1 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Nov. 6, 2014, orig.
proceeding) (citations omitted); TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 22.221(d) (West Supp.
2014) (original habeas corpus jurisdiction of the courts of appeals is limited to
cases in which a person’s liberty is restrained because the person violated an order,
judgment, or decree entered in a civil case). “Article 11.072 is the exclusive means
by which the district courts may exercise their original habeas jurisdiction under
Article V, Section 8, of the Texas Constitution in cases involving an individual
who is either serving a term of community supervision or who has completed a
term of community supervision.” State v. Guerrero, 400 S.W.3d 576, 582 (Tex.
Crim. App. 2013) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); see TEX. CODE
CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 11.072, §§ 1, 2(a), 8 (West Supp. 2014) (habeas applications
1
The underlying case is State v. Nelson, Cause No. 1372073, in the 182nd
District Court of Harris County, Texas, the Honorable Jeannine Barr
presiding. On March 9, 2015, relator filed a notice of appeal from the denial
of the amended motion to adjudicate guilt, which was assigned appellate
cause number 01-15-00248-CR, and remains pending. Because the pro se
relator appeared to initiate an original proceeding in this Court by filing this
habeas application seeking bail on April 7, 2015, the Clerk of this Court
assigned it a new appellate cause number from his pending appeal.
2
in felony/misdemeanor cases seeking relief from orders/judgments ordering
community supervision “must be filed with the clerk of the court in which
community supervision was imposed,” and the denial of such applications may be
appealed to the court of appeals “under Article 44.02 and Rule 31, Texas Rules of
Appellate Procedure.”); cf. TEX. R. APP. P. 31.1 (pertaining to appellate review of a
trial court order in a habeas corpus or bail proceeding). Because there is no
indication in relator’s habeas application that it was filed in the district court first,
that it was denied, and that he is appealing such a denial, we lack jurisdiction to
consider this application in the first instance.
Accordingly, we dismiss the habeas application for want of jurisdiction.
PER CURIAM
Panel consists of Justices Jennings, Higley, and Huddle.
Do not publish. TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).
3