Thanks for visiting! Welcome to a new way to research case law. You are viewing a free summary from Descrybe.ai. For citation and good law / bad law checking, legal issue analysis, and other advanced tools, explore our Legal Research Toolkit — not free, but close.
Steve Anthony Morales v. State
Citation: Not availableDocket: 04-19-00730-CR
Court: Court of Appeals of Texas; November 12, 2019; Texas; State Appellate Court
Original Court Document: View Document
Steve Anthony Morales entered a plea bargain with the State of Texas, pleading nolo contendere to a felony offense. As part of this agreement, he signed a "Waiver of Appeal," and the trial court imposed a sentence in accordance with the plea deal, certifying that this was a plea-bargain case with no right to appeal. Morales subsequently filed a notice of appeal. The court noted that it must dismiss an appeal if there is no certification demonstrating the defendant's right to appeal, as per Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 25.2(a)(2) and 25.2(d). The court notified Morales that his appeal would be dismissed unless an amended certification indicating his right to appeal was submitted within thirty days. Morales's appellate counsel reported that the trial court denied a request for permission to appeal and confirmed that there was no right to appeal found in the record. After reviewing the record and the counsel's notice, the court concluded that Morales does not possess a right to appeal, leading to the dismissal of the appeal. This decision is consistent with precedent established in Dears v. State, affirming the court's responsibility to verify the accuracy of the trial court's certification. The appeal was formally dismissed.