Background

• Solomon pled guilty to aggravated robbery under a plea agreement and received deferred adjudication for seven years.
• As part of the deferral, Solomon was assessed $270 in court costs, with a condition to begin paying $20 per month after release from a substance abuse facility.
• About two years later, the State moved to proceed to final adjudication for alleged violations of community supervision, including failure to repay costs.
• At trial, Solomon pled true to some allegations and not true to the allegation regarding failure to repay costs; the court found him guilty and sentenced him to 20 years, with a written judgment imposing $570 in court costs.
• The $570 costs represented a $300 increase over the original $270 assessed at the time of deferred adjudication.
• Solomon appealed arguing the $300 increase had no evidentiary support and there was no finding of ability to pay; the State argued preservation was lacking but the court ultimately reviewed the record.

Issues

Key Cases Cited

• Mayer v. State, 309 S.W.3d 552 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010) (insufficient evidence to support costs may be challenged on appeal)