Houston has two intermediate appellate courts: the First and the Fourteenth Court of Appeals. Both sit downtown and cover the same district: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Waller, and Washington counties. Cases are assigned randomly between the two courts. We have handled more cases in these two courts than in any others.
The two courts behave differently despite sharing the same district. The First Court holds oral argument in about 36% of criminal cases—the highest rate of any Texas court of appeals. On the Fourteenth Court side: after a court of appeals decides a criminal case, either party can ask the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider the outcome by filing a Petition for Discretionary Review (PDR). The CCA grants—agrees to hear—about 7.8% of PDRs from Fourteenth Court decisions, the second-highest acceptance rate in the state, and when it takes a case, rules against the lower court about 77% of the time.
This Court hears appeals from pretrial habeas denials (articles 11.08 and 11.09) and from 11.072 rulings (community supervision). Habeas under article 11.07—the main felony route—is filed with the convicting court and decided by the Court of Criminal Appeals. See Direct Appeals and Postconviction Relief for the full map.
First Court of Appeals—Cases
- 01-25-00646-CR—Escarenio v. State—direct appeal—continuous sexual abuse of a child
- 01-24-00855-CR—Robinson v. State—direct appeal—online solicitation of a minor
- 01-23-00216-CR—Ex parte Estevez—pretrial habeas corpus
- 01-23-00176-CR—Ex parte McGee—pretrial habeas corpus
- 01-23-00174-CR—Ex parte Eugene—pretrial habeas corpus
- 01-11-00020-CR—Ex parte Lo—pretrial habeas corpus—online solicitation of a minor
Fourteenth Court of Appeals—Cases
- 14-25-00061-CR—Roberts v. State—direct appeal—possession of controlled substance in a penal institution