Ex Parte Schmidt

in which MEYERS, PRICE, JOHNSON, HOLCOMB, and COCHRAN, JJ., joined.

We are asked in this case to decide whether Article 11.09 of the Code of Criminal Procedure limits the jurisdiction of the county court to issue the writ of habeas corpus to cases in which the applicant is confined. We hold that it does not.

The appellant filed two applications for a writ of habeas corpus on September 3, 1997 in county criminal courts at law. Each challenged a prior misdemeanor DWI conviction. In the applications, he alleges that he was denied both the right to counsel and the right to a jury trial when he…