Opinion
No. 05-16-00210-CV
03-09-2016
IN RE ERIC FLORES, Relator
Original Proceeding from the 416th Judicial District Court Collin County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 416-81913-2015
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Justices Bridges, Brown, and Stoddart
Opinion by Justice Stoddart
In this petition for writ of mandamus relator, who is an inmate, complains that the trial court has refused to allow him to file a motion in a criminal case pending against another criminal defendant "for joinder of certain offense[s] stating that the defendant had also committed other criminal offense[s] such as conspiracy of fabrication to cover mass murder, computer crimes resulting in mass murder, and mass murder which could be constituted as a threat to the public interest of health and safety." Relator's petition for writ of mandamus does not comply with the rules of appellate procedure. It does not include the certification required by rule 52.3(j) and does not include an appendix or record. See TEX. R. APP. P. 52.3(j), 52.3(k), 52.7(a). Although these deficiencies alone are sufficient to deny the petition, see In re Butler, 270 S.W.3d 757, 759 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2008, no pet.), in the interest of judicial economy, we consider the petition.
Mandamus relief is appropriate in a criminal case only when a relator establishes (1) that he has no adequate remedy at law to redress his alleged harm, and (2) that what he seeks to compel is a ministerial act, not a discretionary or judicial decision. In re Allen, 462 S.W.3d 47, 49 (Tex. Crim. App. 2015) (orig. proceeding). The parties to a criminal case are the State and the accused, and no third party may intervene in a criminal case. In re Amos, 397 S.W.3d 309, 314 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2013, orig. proceeding); see also In re Wingfield, 171 S.W.3d 374, 381 (Tex. App.—Tyler 2005, orig. proceeding) ("Unlike the Rules of Civil Procedure, the Code of Criminal Procedure makes no provision for a third party to intervene in a 'criminal action.'"). A trial court has no discretion to consider issues raised by third parties in a criminal case. In re Amos, 397 S.W.3d at 314; In re Wingfield, 171 S.W.3d at 381. Thus, the trial court had no ministerial duty to allow relator to seek joinder of additional offenses against the defendant in this case.
We DENY the petition for writ of mandamus.
/Craig Stoddart/
CRAIG STODDART
JUSTICE 160210F.P05