Ruffins v. State

1

Anthony Ruffins, Appellant v. The State of Texas, Appellee

No. 03-18-00540-CR

Court of Appeals of Texas, Third District, Austin

November 10, 2023

Do Not Publish

FROM THE 207TH DISTRICT COURT OF COMAL COUNTY NO. CR2016-614, THE HONORABLE DWIGHT E. PESCHEL, JUDGE PRESIDING

Before Chief Justice Byrne and Justices Baker and Kelly

ORDER

PER CURIAM

Anthony Ruffins was convicted of the offense of aggravated robbery and sentenced to life imprisonment. See Tex. Penal Code §§ 12.42, 29.02, .03. Following his conviction, Ruffins appealed to this Court. See Ruffins v. State 613 S.W.3d 192 (Tex. App.- Austin 2020). This Court reversed his conviction and remanded for further proceedings. See id. at 204. Following our ruling Ruffins filed a motion asking this Court to set reasonable bail, and this Court granted the motion, set bail at $150,000, and ordered the trial court to release him from confinement upon the posting of bail. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 44.04(h); Ruffins v. State, No 03-18-00540-CR, 2020 WL 6018642, at *1 (Tex. App.-Austin Oct 6, 2020, order). The State appealed this Court's ruling reversing Ruffins's conviction, and the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed our judgment and remanded the case back to this Court to address Ruffins's remaining issues on appeal. See Ruffins v. State, 666 S.W.3d 636 (Tex Crim. App. 2023).

Accordingly, the case is once again before this Court for our consideration, and the State has moved to revoke Ruffins's bail pending final resolution of his appeal of his conviction.

Under article 44.04 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a defendant may generally not be released on bail pending appeal from any felony conviction where the punishment is ten years' confinement or more unless his conviction is reversed by an intermediate court of appeals. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art 44.04(b), (h). In that case, a defendant "is entitled to release on reasonable bail, regardless of the length of term of imprisonment, pending final determination of an appeal by the state or the defendant on a motion for discretionary review." Id. art. 44.04(h). Under the language of article 44.04, a defendant's "right to bail does not continue to exist until his appeal of his conviction is finally determined, but only until, as in this case, there has been a final determination by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on the State's petition for discretionary review." See Tucker v. State, 286 S.W.3d 558, 560 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi-Edinburg 2009, no pet.); see also In re Bell, 527 S.W.3d 474, 475 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2017, orig. proceeding) (explaining that after Court of Criminal Appeals vacated intermediate appellate court's ruling and, thereby, reinstated defendant's conviction, defendant was not entitled to bail under subarticle 44.04(h) and that he was required to be placed in custody because he was convicted of felony offense with punishment that is ten years or more in duration). While subarticle 44.04(h) authorized Ruffins's release on bail during the pendency of the State's petition for discretionary review, once the Court of Criminal Appeals issued its mandate, the State's appeal was finally determined for purposes of continued bail under subarticle 44.04(h), and Ruffins is no longer eligible for release on bail. See Tucker, 286...