Beulah Johnson v. State, 09-13-00041-CR

Appellant Beulah Johnson pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft and was sentenced to 180 days in jail.
The information charging the Class B misdemeanor was filed more than two years after the alleged theft.
Johnson’s plea paperwork contained broad waiver language: she waived “all rights given to me by law, whether of form, substance[,] or procedure.”
This Court initially held the prosecution was time-barred because the information lacked tolling language, but it upheld rejection of Johnson’s right-to-counsel claim.
The Court of Criminal Appeals vacated and remanded for reconsideration in light of Ex parte Heilman, directing this Court to assess Heilman’s effect on the case.
On remand, applying Heilman, this Court concluded Johnson’s written plea waived her statute-of-limitations defense and affirmed the conviction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the statute of limitations bars prosecution/conviction when the information was filed after the limitations period	Johnson: Prosecution is time-barred because the information was filed after the two-year limit and lacks tolling language	State: Johnson waived any limitations defense by signing plea admonishments that waived all legal rights; Heilman permits such waivers	Court: Waiver effective under Heilman; statute-of-limitations defense forfeited; conviction affirmed
Whether Johnson’s right to counsel was violated at plea	Johnson: Alleged violation of right to counsel (raised previously)	State: No violation; prior ruling rejecting the claim was correct	Court: Prior overruling of counsel claim remains unaffected and is not altered by remand

Ex parte Heilman, 456 S.W.3d 159 (Tex. Crim. App. 2015) (statute-of-limitations defense is a forfeitable right and may be waived as part of a plea bargain)