MARIO KEITH GARZA v. THE STATE OF TEXAS
NUMBER 13-12-00168-CR
COURT OF APPEALS THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG
May 9, 2013
On appeal from the 329th District Court of Wharton County, Texas.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Chief Justice Valdez and Justices Benavides and Longoria
Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Valdez
Appellant, Mario Keith Garza, pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance, a third degree felony. See
I. DISCUSSION
A trial court denies due process and due course of law if it arbitrarily refuses to consider the entire range of punishment for an offense and imposes a predetermined punishment. McClenan v. State, 661 S.W.2d 108, 110 (Tex. Crim. App. 1983), overruled on other grounds by De Leon v. Aguilar, 127 S.W.3d 1, 5 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004). In Teixeira v. State, the Texarkana court of appeals emphasized that, for one to preserve a complaint for appeal contending the trial court failed to consider the full range of punishment, the error, if any, must be raised to the trial court. 89 S.W.3d 190, 192 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2002, pet. ref’d). In Teixeira, the appellant failed to raise the alleged error at the trial court level, and the court of appeals held that he waived the error for purposes of appellate review. Id. In Garza v. State, this Court also determined, in an unpublished opinion, that in order to preserve a complaint for appellant review that the trial court failed to consider the full range of punishment, the appellant must object to the trial court. No. 13-08-00244-CR, 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 6866, at *3–5 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi Aug. 28, 2009, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication).
In this case, Garza did not object at the trial court level on the basis that the trial court failed to consider the full range of punishment. Therefore, the objection raised on appeal was not raised before the trial court and was thereby waived. See Cummings v. State, 163 S.W.3d 772, 776 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2005, pet. ref’d); Teixeira, 89 S.W.3d at 192; Washington v. State, 71 S.W.3d 498, 499 (Tex. App.—Tyler 2002, no pet.); see also Hull v. State, 67 S.W.3d 215, 217 (Tex. Crim. App. 2002); Garza, 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 6866, at *3–5. We overrule Garza’s sole issue.1
II. MODIFICATION
The judgment revoking Garza’s community supervision states that the offense Garza was convicted of committing is “criminal attempt—possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.” The judgment cites that the statute for the offense committed by Garza is section 15.01 of the penal code. See
However, at his plea hearing, the trial court asked Garza if he “understood” that he was pleading guilty to possession of a controlled substance, a third degree felony. The prosecutor stated, “The terms of the plea is that Count I will be set aside at the time of the hearing under Penal Code 12.44 with the admission of guilt. . . . And Count 2, which is what we’re going forward is on solely the possession, we’ve abandoned our allegation that he had intent to deliver or that it was a drug free zone.” Garza then pleaded guilty to that offense, and the trial court accepted his plea. The plea papers state that Garza pleaded guilty to the offense of possession of a controlled substance and cite section 481.115 of the Texas Health and Safety Code. See
III. CONCLUSION
We modify the trial court’s judgment and affirm as modified.
ROGELIO VALDEZ
Chief Justice
Do not publish.
Delivered and filed the
9th day of May, 2013.
