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Sariah Garcia v. the State of Texas

2026-08-12

Authorities cited

Opinion

majority opinion

In the

Court of Appeals

Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

No. 06-26-00018-CR

SARIAH GARCIA, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 396th District Court

Tarrant County, Texas

Trial Court No. 1655158

Before Stevens, C.J., van Cleef and Rambin, JJ.

Memorandum Opinion by Justice Rambin

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Sariah Garcia appeals1 four judgments adjudicating guilt, but her combined brief asserts

error in only two of them.2 The State concedes the errors in the trial court’s judgments in trial

court cause numbers 1655158 and 1736179. We therefore modify the trial court’s judgment here

in trial court cause number 1655158 and affirm as modified.

All four of the trial court’s judgments result from a combined “true but” hearing where

Garcia pled true to violating terms of her deferred adjudication community supervision in each

case but testified in the hope of avoiding incarceration. After hearing Garcia’s testimony, as well

as testimony from witnesses called by the State, the trial court adjudicated guilt and pronounced

sentence in each of Garcia’s cases. In all four of her cases, the trial court’s judgments reflect that

the sentences are to run concurrently.

Garcia asserts that there is error in two of the trial court’s judgments because the trial

court orally-pronounced sentences of six months in state jail for each of the two state-jail

felonies, but the written judgments impose sentences of two years’ confinement. The State

agrees and asks that the judgments at issue be modified by this Court to reflect the correct

sentences as orally pronounced by the trial court.

1

This appeal was transferred to this Court from the Second Court of Appeals pursuant to a Texas Supreme Court docket equalization order. See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 73.001 (Supp.). Accordingly, we apply the precedent of the Second Court of Appeals in deciding this case. See TEX. R. APP. P. 41.3.

2

In this memorandum opinion, we address Garcia’s challenge to the trial court’s written-imposed sentence in trial court cause number 1655158. In her companion appellate cause numbers 06-26-00019-CR and 06-26-00020-CR, Garcia does not assert any challenge. In her companion appellate cause number 06-26-00021-CR, Garcia challenges the trial court’s written-imposed sentence in trial court cause number 1736179.

2

“As a general rule, when the oral pronouncement of sentence and the written judgment

vary, the oral pronouncement controls.” Ette v. State, 559 S.W.3d 511, 516 (Tex. Crim. App.

2018). “The solution in those cases in which the oral pronouncement and the written judgment

conflict is to reform the written judgment to conform to the sentence that was orally

pronounced.” Thompson v. State, 108 S.W.3d 287, 290 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003).

This appeal concerns Garcia’s conviction regarding a state-jail felony offense of burglary

of a building. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 30.02(a), (c)(1) (Supp.). Garcia’s appeal in her

companion appellate cause number 06-26-00021-CR concerns Garcia’s conviction regarding a

state-jail felony offense of credit card or debit card abuse. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN.

§ 32.31(b), (d). During sentencing the trial court stated, “On [each of] the [two] state jail cases,

the sentence[s] will be six months state jail.” In this case, we modify the trial court’s judgment

by removing the “2 YEARS” confinement in state jail to correctly reflect a sentence of “SIX

MONTHS” confinement in state jail.

Accordingly, in this case, we affirm the trial court’s judgment, as modified.

Jeff Rambin

Justice

Date Submitted: August 11, 2026

Date Decided: August 12, 2026

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