Manley Dewayne Johnson v. State, 389 S.W.3d 513

Johnson pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
On appeal, Johnson challenged the trial court’s order to pay a specific amount in court costs.
The judgment ordered $234 in court costs, but the record did not initially contain a bill of costs.
The clerk later swore no bill of costs existed in the case file, creating a record gap.
The court held that costs are statutory, but the specific dollar amount lacked evidentiary support in the record; the judgment was reformed to delete the exact amount while affirming the remainder.
The court discussed Article 103.001 and ripeness, concluding the issue was ripe and proper to review on direct appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the record supports the specific court costs amount.	Johnson argues the record lacks evidence to support $234 in costs.	State contends costs are mandated by statute and fine to collect; issue ripe though bill not yet ready.	The specific amount lacks record support; judgment is reformed to delete the amount, affirmed as so modified.

Armstrong v. State, 340 S.W.3d 759 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011) (costs must be supported by record evidence; attorney’s fees treated as costs)
Mayer v. State, 309 S.W.3d 552 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010) (sufficiency of evidence to support a judgment need not be preserved)
Light v. State, 15 S.W.3d 104 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000) (presumption of regularity may be overcome by the record)
Breazeale v. State, 683 S.W.2d 446 (Tex. Crim. App. 1984) (presumption of regularity requires affirmative indication of error)
Pfeiffer v. State, 363 S.W.3d 594 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012) (illustrates limits of advisory opinions; relevance to costs record)
Garrett v. State, 749 S.W.2d 784 (Tex. Crim. App. 1986) (courts cannot issue advisory opinions; relevance to record supplementation)