Ex Parte Benjamin Eduardo Sanchez v. the State of Texas ( 2023 )

Opinion issued June 20, 2023
In The
Court of Appeals
For The
First District of Texas
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NO. 01-22-00775-CR
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EX PARTE BENJAMIN EDUARDO SANCHEZ, Appellant
On Appeal from the 207th District Court
Comal County, Texas
Trial Court Case No. C2022-1206X
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Appellant Benjamin Eduardo Sanchez appeals from the trial court’s denial of
his application for writ of habeas corpus.1 The State of Texas has filed a motion to
1
The Texas Supreme Court transferred this appeal from the Court of Appeals for the Third
District of Texas. See TEX. GOV’T CODE § 73.001 (authorizing transfer of cases between
courts of appeals).
dismiss the appeal on the ground that it is moot. Appellant has not filed a response
to this motion. We grant the motion and dismiss the appeal.
On July 25, 2022, appellant filed a pretrial application for writ of habeas
corpus seeking bail reduction. Appellant alleged that he was illegally confined in
lieu of a bond in the amount of $22,000.00, which appellant claimed was excessive,
oppressive, and beyond his financial means in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth
Amendments to the United States Constitution, of the Texas Constitution, and of
Articles 1.09 and 17.15 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Appellant
contends that his release was denied on August 2, 2022, but the clerk’s record does
not contain a copy of the trial court’s order.
On November 8, 2022, the State filed a motion to dismiss the appeal as moot.
The State claimed that appellant’s counsel advised the State that appellant was
released from pretrial confinement on a personal recognizance bond on or about
November 4, 2022. The State attached a System Printout and a Comal County
Jailing Record supporting the claim that appellant was released on a personal
recognizance bond.
If ‘“the premise of a habeas corpus application is destroyed by subsequent
developments, the legal issues raised thereunder are moot.”’ Ex parte Guerrero, 99
S.W.3d 852, 853 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2003, no pet.) (quoting Bennet
v. State, 818 S.W.3d 199, 200 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1991, no pet.). In
2
Guerrero, the appellant filed a pretrial application for writ of habeas corpus seeking
a bond reduction, but the trial court subsequently reduced the bond and appellant
posted bond. See Guerrero, 99 S.W.3d at 853. The State filed a motion to dismiss
the appeal as moot and the appellate court agreed, dismissing the appeal as moot.
See id.Here, the documents attached to the State’s motion to dismiss indicate that
appellant was released on November 4, 2022 on personal recognizance bonds set by
the trial court. Accordingly, the issues raised in the appeal from the denial of
appellant’s writ of habeas corpus are now moot because appellant has been released
on personal recognizance bonds.
We dismiss the appeal as moot. Any pending motions are dismissed as moot.
PER CURIAM
Panel consists of Justices Kelly, Hightower, and Countiss.
Do not publish. TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).
3