John William Wilburn v. State ( 2000 )

NUMBER 13-99-754-CR

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI

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JOHN WILLIAM WILBURN , Appellant,

v.

THE STATE OF TEXAS , Appellee.

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On appeal from the 117th District Court

of Nueces County, Texas.

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O P I N I O N

Before Chief Justice Seerden and Justices Dorsey and Yañez

Opinion by Justice Dorsey

Appellant John Wilburn pleaded guilty to 3 counts of aggravated robbery and the court sentenced him to forty-five years in prison for each count, time to be served consecutively. Appellant contends that the punishment was disproportionate to the seriousness of the offense, in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. We overrule the issue and affirm the conviction.

At the hearing on punishment, Appellant did not object to the sentence. In order to preserve a complaint for appellate review, a party must have presented the trial court with a timely request, objection or motion, stating the specific grounds for the ruling he desired if those grounds were not apparent from the context. Tex. R. App. P. 33.1(a)(1). Almost any right, constitutional or statutory, may be waived by failure to make a timely and specific objection. Little v. State, 758 S.W.2d 551, 563 (Tex. Crim. App. 1988); Jones v. State, 825 S.W.2d 470, 472 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi 1991, pet. ref'd). As a general rule, an appellant cannot assert error pertaining to his sentence or punishment when he failed to raise such error in the trial court. Mercado v. State, 718 S.W.2d 291 (Tex. Crim. App. 1986); Scheneider v. State, 645 S.W.2d 463, 466 (Tex. Crim. App. 1983). This court has previously reached the same conclusion when the defendant's contentions were not raised in either a motion for new trial or by objection. Quintana v. State, 777 S.W.2d 474, 479 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi 1989, pet. ref'd).

Appellant failed to raise this issue in the trial court and has not preserved error. Tex. R. App. P. 33.1(a)(1). Judgment of the trial court is AFFIRMED.

J. BONNER DORSEY,

Justice

Do not publish .

Tex. R. App. P. 47.3(b).

Opinion delivered and filed

this 13th day of July, 2000.