Cooper v. State

PRICE, J.,

delivered a dissenting opinion in which MEYERS, HOLLAND, and JOHNSON, J.J., joined.

Because the ability to appeal the volun-tariness of a guilty or nolo plea was part of a defendant’s substantive right to appeal both before and after the 1977 proviso to article 44.02,1 I respectfully dissent.

Prior to 1977, article 44.02 provided (as it does today): a defendant in any criminal action has the right of appeal under the rules hereinafter prescribed. Tex.Code CRIm.PROC.Ann. art. 44.02 (Vernon 1981). Courts had interpreted article 44.02 and its predecessors very broadly, and recognized…