the defendant sent a letter asking for deferred adjudication and the judge accepted the plea and deferred the case for 90 days.

Can a nolo plea with no plea bargaining be appealed? Case law talks about these being appealable only if the judge gives them permission to appeal--is it the same for JP cases appealed up to our county court at law?

The limitation on a right to appeal is a statutory construct that applies to felony cases in which the defendant's punishment was negotiated through a bargain approved by the judge. See article 26.13, CCP, and TDCAA's book The Perfect Plea.

Otherwise, a defendant who pleads guilty or no contest (particularly to a misdemeanor and without an agreed punishment) is not prevented from appealing the case. However, there may not be anything that can be addressed in the appeal.

That's because a guilty or no contest plea waives any issues in the case by admitting guilt. So, short of a punishment mistake (such as a sentence that exceeds the punishment range set by law), the appellate court likely will simply say that there is nothing to consider in the appeal because of the plea of guilty or no contest.

The question is about an appeal from Justice Court; therefore De Novo to the County Court. The State must prove the case again. But remember the defendant needs to give notice of appeal AND PERFECT THE APPEAL BY POSTING AN APPEAL BOND WITHIN 10 DAYS OF THE JUDGMENT. CCP SEC. 45.0426. I also have a vague recollection of an appellate opinion that stood for the proposition that if the defendant pays any of the fine/judgment assessed in Justice Court they have accepted the judgment and waived appeal.

My very vague memory of working in JP Court (circa 1987 in Houston) supports that approach. I recall that we would study the cases coming into county court for any basis to send it back.

It's 30 days to perfect the appeal if the no contest plea is done by mail; 10 if the plea (or guilty verdict after trial) is in open court. Also, this only applies to cases being appealed from JP or municipal courts that are not of record. Appeals from lower courts of record follow the same standards as a regular appeal.

Thanks for the help--the perfection timelines were properly met. Just seemed odd to appeal the best deal that I could offer at either court and was hoping to bump it back down so as to not compete with my Class Bs and As for time.

Our court costs in the county court are more than municipal/JP court fines; most people are shocked at how much it costs, and beg for us to waive them (we can't) to make it less than the lower court. I don't know why they bother appealing, especially the CDL holders who seem to think they are entitled to some benefit (deferred) at our level that they didn't get below (cuz they legally couldn't).

I hate traffic appeals.

ditto!

I have one attorney (not the one who did this one) who sets them all for trial, knowing my judge will be annoyed with me for not giving whatever deal will get them off the trial docket. Then the defendants are out of state and never come in (the attorneys sometimes appear, but never actually are ready for a trial)...it's a huge headache!

Dealing with Traffic cases hardly seems worth my time, until I see just how many cases are pled to without my involvement. I seem to have about 10 people a year threaten to take me to Jury trial on a no seatbelt ticket, right until they realize that I will go to trial. About once a year I actually have to try such a case and about once every three years I have to re-try one in the County Court on a De Novo appeal. If you only look at such cases when they are actually tried, it makes no sense for a County to spend the money to seat juries, subpoena officers and have trials. But if you don't put up the fight, will any of the hundreds of defendant that just pay their fines, ever plead guilty again.