In The

Court of Appeals
Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont
____________________
NO.
NO.
NO.
NO.
NO.
NO.

09-14-00382-CR
09-14-00383-CR
09-14-00384-CR
09-14-00385-CR
09-14-00386-CR
09-14-00387-CR

____________________
JOSHUA LUKE MCDONALD, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
_______________________________________________________

______________

On Appeal from the 128th District Court

Orange County, Texas
Trial Cause Nos. A-140025-R, A-140028-R, A-140031-R, A-140034-R,
A-140037-R, and A-140040-R
________________________________________________________

_____________

ORDER
Joshua Luke McDonald filed notices of appeal following his guilty plea and
the jurys verdict on punishment in six cases in which he was indicted for sexual
assault of a child. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. 22.011 (West 2011). After the briefs
were filed and the appeals were submitted to the Court, it came to the attention of
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the Court that a formal procedural defect affects this Courts jurisdiction over the
appeals.
On August 13, 2014, a jury assessed punishment at confinement in prison
for fifteen years in each case. The trial court sentenced McDonald in accordance
with the jurys verdicts, but immediately rescinded the pronouncement of the
sentences and recessed for consideration of the States request to order one of the
sentences to be served consecutively to one of the other sentences. When the trial
court reconvened the hearing two days later, the trial court called all six cases and
announced its decision to order that the sentence in trial court case number A140034-R run consecutive to the fifteen-year sentence received August 15, 2014,
in trial court case number A-140025-R, but the trial court failed to orally
pronounce the sentence in each of the six cases. Oral pronouncement of sentence in
the presence of the defendant is mandatory. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art.
42.03 1(a) (West Supp. 2015). The trial courts failure to orally pronounce
sentence is remediable error. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.4(a).
It is, therefore, ORDERED that the Appeal Numbers 09-14-00382-CR, 0914-00383-CR, 09-14-00384-CR, 09-14-00385-CR, 09-14-00386-CR, and 09-1400387-CR are abated and trial court case numbers A-140025-R, A-140028-R, A140031-R, A-140034-R, A-140037-R, and A-140040-R are remanded to the trial
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court for oral pronouncement of each sentence in the presence of the defendant
upon notice and hearing. A reporters record of the sentencing hearing shall be
prepared and filed in the records of theses appeals within sixty days of the date of
this order. These appeals will be reinstated without further order of this Court
when the supplemental reporters records are filed.
ORDER ENTERED February 4, 2016.
PER CURIAM
Before McKeithen, C.J., Kreger and Horton, JJ.