Opinion filed December 1, 2022 In The Eleventh Court of Appeals __________ No. 11-21-00256-CR __________ MICKEY RAY TAYLOR JR., Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee On Appeal from the 385th District Court Midland County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. CR54221 MEMORANDUM OPINION Mickey Ray Taylor Jr. entered an open plea of nolo contendere to evading arrest or detention with a motor vehicle, a third-degree felony. TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 38.04(a), (b)(2)(A) (West 2016). The trial court found Appellant guilty and assessed his punishment at confinement for five years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. In his sole issue on appeal, Appellant contends that the trial court’s failure to admonish him about the immigration consequences of his plea pursuant to Article 26.13(a)(4) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure constitutes reversible error. TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 26.13(a)(4) (West Supp. 2022). We affirm. Background Facts On August 16, 2019, Deputy Rusty Winn with the Midland County Sheriff’s Office responded to a disturbance call indicating that “there was a male inside of the residence with a knife, trying to defend his family from something that was not there.” When Deputy Winn arrived on scene, he found Appellant in the driver’s seat of an SUV and a woman standing outside of the vehicle. Deputy Winn testified that Appellant refused to comply with orders to step out of the vehicle, so he deployed his taser. After Deputy Winn tased Appellant, Appellant “jumped back into the driver’s side” of the vehicle and drove away from the scene. Deputies Winn, Rodriguez, and Cortinas began the pursuit, which eventually involved numerous officers from multiple agencies attempting to stop Appellant’s vehicle. During the pursuit, Appellant drove erratically throughout the city of Midland and in Midland County, reaching speeds of up to 90 miles per hour. Officers ultimately deployed tire “spikes” to disable Appellant’s vehicle, and Appellant was taken into custody. Following the events on August 16, 2019, the State charged Appellant with a three-count indictment for assault family violence with a previous conviction, evading arrest in a vehicle, and aggravated assault against a public servant. The State dismissed the assault charges and proceeded on the evading charge. Appellant entered an open plea of nolo contendere on the evading charge. The trial court accepted Appellant’s plea and found him guilty of the offense. The trial court did not admonish Appellant of the immigration consequences of his plea. During the punishment trial to the bench, the State presented the testimony of three officers involved in the pursuit and offered two in-car camera videos, which 2 the trial court admitted into evidence. At the conclusion of the evidence, the trial court assessed Appellant’s punishment at five years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Analysis Prior to accepting a plea of nolo contendere, the trial court must admonish a defendant of “the fact that if the defendant is not a citizen of the United States of America, a plea …
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