Opinion
No. 08-03-00440-CR.
April 8, 2004. DO NOT PUBLISH.
Appeal from 34th District Court of El Paso County, Texas, (Tc# 930D06712).
Before Panel No. 1: LARSEN, McCLURE, and CHEW, JJ.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
This is an attempted appeal from a pretrial order finding Appellant incompetent to stand trial for the offense of murder. Appellant timely filed a notice of appeal but the record does not contain a certification of the defendant's right of appeal. Appellant's counsel has notified the Clerk's Office that the trial court refuses to sign the certification. Interlocutory rulings from competency hearings are merely ancillary to the criminal proceedings and are not final judgments for purposes of appeal. Morales v. State, 830 S.W.2d 139, 140 (Tex.Crim.App. 1992); Ortega v. State, 82 S.W.3d 748, 749 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist. 2002, no pet.); Lowe v. State, 999 S.W.2d 537, 537 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1999, no pet.). On December 12, 2003, we notified the parties of our intention to dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. Appellant has not filed a written response. Because the interlocutory order is not appealable, the trial court was not obligated to enter a certification of the defendant's right of appeal. See Tex.R.App.P. 25.2(a)(2) (requiring trial court to enter a certification in every case in which the trial court enters a judgment of guilt or other appealable order). Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.