Texas Court of Appeals
Nguyen v. State
No. 01-25-00060-CR 9/22/26
Issue:
Does Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 42A.108(c) require issuance of a capias for the trial court to have jurisdiction to hear a motion to adjudicate guilt?
Holding:
No. If the community supervision period has not expired, a trial court has jurisdiction to hold an adjudication hearing without issuing a capias. The Court agreed with the 14th Court of Appeals’s recent unpublished decision in Ibarra v. State, No. 14-25-00140-CR (Tex. App. — Houston [14th Dist.] April 7, 2026, pet. filed), which held that because the ordinary purpose of a capias is to secure the defendant’s presence at a proceeding against him, the absence of a capias does not deprive the trial court of jurisdiction it would normally possess. “We conclude that because Nguyen’s community supervision period had not expired, the failure to issue a capias did not present an obstacle to the trial court’s adjudicating Nguyen’s guilt because it retained jurisdiction to do so.” Read opinion.
Commentary:
The First Court of Appeals joins the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in articulating that the two branches of this revocation-jurisdiction tree are:
(1) when the community supervision period has expired, the trial court retains jurisdiction to revoke the community supervision if, before the expiration of the community supervision period, the following two conditions are met:
• the State filed a motion alleging a violation of the terms of the community supervision, and
• the trial court issued a capias for the defendant’s arrest; and
(2) when the community supervision period has not expired, the trial court retains jurisdiction to revoke the community supervision if, before the expiration of the community supervision period, the following condition is met: the State filed a motion alleging a violation of the terms of the community supervision.
The First Court of Appeals’s opinion follows the logic of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals’s opinion in Ibarra, and both reasonably and practically interpret Art. 42A.108(c) to not require a capias in situation (2). However, as the First Court of Appeals recognizes, the courts’ shared conclusion is not fully settled, so it is possible that the Court of Criminal Appeals may want to weigh in on Ibarra, this opinion, or both.