DocketNumber: 05-21-01125-CV
Filed Date: 4/20/2022
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 4/27/2022
DENIED and Opinion Filed April 20, 2022 In The Court of Appeals Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-21-01124-CV No. 05-21-01125-CV IN RE LAWRENCE ALLEN FULLER, Relator Original Proceeding from the Criminal District Court No. 3 Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause Nos. F97-01742-J & F97-02170-J MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Justices Myers, Partida-Kipness, and Carlyle Opinion by Justice Myers Lawrence Allen Fuller has filed a petition for writ of mandamus seeking to compel the trial court to issue a ruling on his motion for post-conviction DNA testing. The Court requested a response to the petition. In its response, the State has shown the respondent trial court issued a March 14, 2022 order denying relator’s motion. Accordingly, we deny relief on the petition because the matter is now moot. To obtain mandamus relief, relator must show: (1) that he has no adequate remedy at law, and (2) that the act he seeks to compel is a ministerial act for which he has a clear right to relief. See In re Bonilla,424 S.W.3d 528
, 534 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014) (orig. proceeding). In seeking to compel a ruling from the trial court, relator has a right to a ruling, but mandamus may not be used to compel the trial court to rule a certain way on a matter in which it is exercising its judicial discretion. In re State ex rel. Young v. Sixth Judicial Dist. Ct. of Appeals,236 S.W.3d 207
, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007). The trial court’s ruling denying relator’s motion delivers all of the relief he is requesting and entitled to in a mandamus proceeding, thus rendering his cause moot. See Bonilla, 424 S.W.3d at 534 (mandamus relief rendered moot when relator received information he was seeking); In re Johnson,599 S.W.3d 311
, 311–12 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2020, orig. proceeding) (mandamus proceeding seeking ruling on motion rendered moot when respondent trial court ruled on motion); see also In re Graves, No. 05-14-00306-CV,2014 WL 1032466
, at *1 (Tex. App.—Dallas Mar. 13, 2014, orig. proceeding) (mem. op.) (mandamus proceeding seeking ruling on post-conviction DNA motion rendered moot when trial court issued ruling on motion). Accordingly, relator’s petition for writ of mandamus is denied as moot. 211124f.p05 /Lana Myers// 211125f.p05 LANA MYERS JUSTICE –2–