Joshua Dewayne Ragston v. The State of TexasAppeal from 506th District Court of Grimes County (Opinion )

State: Texas

Court: Texas Northern District Court

Docket No: 14-12-01128-CR

Case Date: 06/11/2013

Plaintiff: Joshua Dewayne Ragston

Defendant: The State of TexasAppeal from 506th District Court of Grimes County (Opinion )

Preview:Affirmed in Part and Dismissed in Part and Opinion filed June 11, 2013.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals
NO. 14-12-01127-CR NO. 14-12-01128-CR

EX PARTE JOSHUA DEWAYNE RAGSTON

On Appeal from the 506th District Court Grimes County Trial Court Cause No. 17187 OPINION This case involves two separate accelerated appeals. In one, Joshua Dewayne Ragston appeals the trial court's denial of his pretrial application for writ of habeas corpus. In the other, Ragston appeals the trial court's order on his motion for bond reduction on the charges of capital murder, murder, and aggravated robbery. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the trial court's order denying habeas relief, and we dismiss for want of jurisdiction Ragston's appeal from the trial court's order on his motion for bond reduction.

I In the summer of 2012, Ragston was arrested and indicted on charges of capital murder, murder, and aggravated robbery in connection with an offense that occurred on July 17, 2009. Although Ragston was charged in three separate counts, all of the charges arise from a single incident in which Ragston allegedly robbed and murdered the owner of a liquor store in Navasota. Ragston was seventeen years old at the time of the offense. Ragston was jailed and held on no bond for the capital-murder charge, and his bond was set at $500,000 each for the murder and aggravated-robbery charges. Ragston filed a pretrial application for a writ of habeas corpus and a separate motion for bond reduction in the trial court. After a hearing, the trial court denied Ragston's request for relief from confinement. The trial court also denied bond on the capital-murder and murder charges, but reduced the bond to $250,000 on the aggravated-robbery charge. II We first address Ragston's contention in cause No. 14-12-01127-CR that the trial court erred in denying his request for habeas-corpus relief. Ragston argues that the State should be barred from prosecuting him for capital murder allegedly committed when he was a juvenile because Texas's capital-felony sentencing statute does not provide a constitutional range of punishment. As Ragston notes, the Texas Penal Code provides only two possible punishments in the event Ragston is convicted of capital murder: death or life in prison without parole. See Tex. Penal Code

Download 14-12-01128-cr.pdf