Lawrence Allen Fuller has filed a petition for writ of mandamus seeking to compel the trial court to issue a ruling on his motion for post-conviction DNA testing. The Court requested a response to the petition. In its response, the State has shown the respondent trial court issued a March 14, 2022 order denying relator’s motion. Accordingly, we deny relief on the petition because the matter is now moot.

To obtain mandamus relief, relator must show: (1) that he has no adequate remedy at law, and (2) that the act he seeks to compel is a ministerial act for which he has a clear right to relief. See In re Bonilla , 424 S.W.3d 528, 534 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014) (orig. proceeding). In seeking to compel a ruling from the trial court, *2 relator has a right to a ruling, but mandamus may not be used to compel the trial court to rule a certain way on a matter in which it is exercising its judicial discretion. In re State ex rel. Young v. Sixth Judicial Dist. Ct. of Appeals , 236 S.W.3d 207, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007).

The trial court’s ruling denying relator’s motion delivers all of the relief he is requesting and entitled to in a mandamus proceeding, thus rendering his cause moot. See Bonilla , 424 S.W.3d at 534 (mandamus relief rendered moot when relator received information he was seeking); In re Johnson , 599 S.W.3d 311, 311–12 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2020, orig. proceeding) (mandamus proceeding seeking ruling on motion rendered moot when respondent trial court ruled on motion); see also In re Graves , No. 05-14-00306-CV, 2014 WL 1032466, at *1 (Tex. App.—Dallas Mar. 13, 2014, orig. proceeding) (mem. op.) (mandamus proceeding seeking ruling on post-conviction DNA motion rendered moot when trial court issued ruling on motion).

Accordingly, relator’s petition for writ of mandamus is denied as moot.

211124f.p05 /Lana Myers/ /

211125f.p05 LANA MYERS

JUSTICE

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