Alton Armstrong, Appellant v. the State of Texas

Summary

The Court of Criminal Appeals held that a defendant's challenge, on insufficiency-of-evidence grounds, to court-appointed attorney fees included in a district clerk's bill of costs is a criminal law matter, because the claim arises over the enforcement of statutes governed by the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure rather than over the civil collection of costs. The Court accordingly reversed the Amarillo Court of Appeals, which had declined to reach the attorney-fee issues on the view that they were civil matters outside a direct criminal appeal. Although outside the question on which review was granted, the Court also held that attorney fees in a certified bill of costs are effective whether or not orally pronounced or incorporated by reference into the judgment, because they are compensatory and non-punitive like court costs rather than punitive like fines.