Brumley v. State

This appeal arises from the trial court’s decision to impose consecutive sentences when the defendant’s written plea agreement provided that his sentences were to run concurrently. In carrying out a plea-bargain agreement, Jesse Adam Brumley pled "no contest" to felony driving while intoxicated. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. §§ 49.04, 49.09(b) (West Supp. 2011).*fn1 The trial court assessed Brumley’s punishment at ten years in prison, but suspended the imposition of Brumley’s sentence and placed him on community supervision for ten years. The State subsequently filed a motion to revoke Brumley’s placement on community supervision. During the revocation hearing, Brumleypled "true" to having violated four terms of the trial court’s community supervision order. At the conclusion of the revocation hearing, the trial court found that Brumley had violated the community supervision order, revoked Brumley’s community supervision, imposed punishment at ten years in prison, and ordered that Brumley serve his sentence in this case after completing his sentence in trial cause number 97980.

Brumley appeals the judgment that the trial court signed after the revocation hearing, arguing that the prosecutor failed to advise the trial court of its agreement to recommend that his sentence in this case, trial cause number 99425, run at the same time as his sentence in trial cause number 97980. Brumley contends that the agreement under which he had pled guilty provides that the sentence in this case would run concurrently with his sentence in trial cause number 97980. According to Brumley, because the prosecutor is bound by any promises made that induce a defendant to waive his rights and to plead guilty, the prosecutor, during the revocation hearing, is required to remind the trial court of the terms of a plea agreement. See Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 262, 92 S.Ct. 495, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 (1971) ("[W]hen a plea rests in any significant degree on a promise or agreement of the prosecutor, so that it can be said to be part of the inducement or consideration, such promise must be fulfilled.").