Texas Criminal Appeals Blog
New clients often ask me when they can apply for a writ of habeas corpus under Article 11.07. Unless they’ve been prison for awhile, my normal answer is, “Not yet.”
Article 11.07 refers to a section of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure that establishes the procedures for filing an application for writ of habeas corpus after being convicted of a felony offense. This may sound straight forward, but there are some procedural rules that limit when such an application can be filed.
First, your conviction has to be final. Or to use a technical phrase, “mandate” has to have issued. Mandate only issues when you have exhausted the direct appeals process. It’s probably easier to explain this with an example.