Leija, Yolanda Nino v. The State of Texas--Appeal from 183rd District Court of Harris County

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Laws-info.com » Cases » Texas » 14th District Court of Appeals » 2005 » Leija, Yolanda Nino v. The State of Texas--Appeal from 183rd District Court of Harris County

State: Texas

Court: Texas Northern District Court

Docket No: 14-04-00722-CR

Case Date: 12/01/2005

Plaintiff: Leija, Yolanda Nino

Defendant: The State of Texas--Appeal from 183rd District Court of Harris County

Preview:Kevin Andrew Owens v. The State of Texas--Appeal
from 56th District Court of Galveston County
Opinion Issued March 3, 2005
In The
Court of Appeals
For The
First District of Texas
NO. 01-04-00841-CR
KEVIN ANDREW OWENS, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 56th District Court
Galveston County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 03CR3615
MEMORANDUM OPINION
The trial court granted an order to extradite appellant, Kevin Andrew Owens, from the State of Texas to the State of
Illinois. // In a single issue, appellant contends that the trial court erred in granting the State s application for
extradition to the State of Illinois.
We dismiss appellant s appeal for want of jurisdiction.
Procedural Background
In late 2003 or early 2004, appellant was apparently served with a governor s warrant from Illinois regarding an
offense that he allegedly committed in the State of Illinois. // At the time, appellant was apparently in jail in Galveston
County, awaiting his trial for an unrelated offense that he allegedly committed in Texas. After appellant refused to sign
a waiver of extradition and asserted that he was not the person named in the governor s warrant from the State of
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Illinois, an extradition hearing was held on July 9, 2004. After the State presented the testimony of Galveston County
Sergeant R. Hill, who testified that appellant s fingerprints matched the fingerprints on the print card provided to him
by the State, the trial court orally held that appellant be extradited to the State of Illinois. The trial court also told
appellant that [i]f you would like to appeal that ruling, you may do so. On August 5, 2004, the trial court signed an
order granting extradition, and appellant filed a notice of appeal on August 6, 2004. There is no evidence in the record
that appellant filed an application for writ of habeas corpus.
Analysis
In a single issue, appellant argues that the trial court erred in granting the State s application to extradite him to the
State of Illinois because the governor s warrant was defective. Specifically, appellant asserts that the governor s
warrant was defective because [n]owhere in the affidavit does it fulfill the requirement that [appellant] must have fled
the demanding state.
The only vehicle for testing the legality of a governor s warrant is through the filing of an application for writ of
habeas corpus. Ex parte Chapman, 601 S.W.2d 380, 382-83 (Tex. Crim. App. 1980). Moreover, an appealable judicial
determination occurs only if the arrestee challenges the extradition by way of a writ of habeas corpus and receives an
adverse ruling by the trial court. Id. at 383. If no writ of habeas corpus is filed, the arrestee is not in the posture of an
applicant for habeas corpus whose prayer for relief has been denied for appellate purposes. Id.
Here, the record shows that appellant did not file an application for writ of habeas corpus, and, therefore, such a writ
was never denied by the trial court. Therefore, because our jurisdiction is limited to consideration of an appeal from
the denial of relief upon application of a writ of habeas corpus, we must dismiss appellant s appeal. Id.
Terry Jennings
Justice
Panel consists of Justices Nuchia, Jennings, and Alcala.
Do not publish. Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b).
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