How to File a CCA Appeal Form: PDR and Article 11.07 Habeas

To file an appeal with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, you first have to know which of two very different filings you need. A Petition for Discretionary Review (PDR) asks the CCA to review a decision of a Texas court of appeals, and it must reach the CCA clerk within 30 days of that court’s judgment. An Article 11.07 habeas corpus application challenges a final felony conviction itself on constitutional grounds, uses a prescribed form, and is filed with the district clerk in the county where you were convicted — not with the CCA directly. Here is how each one works, what belongs in it, and how to get it submitted correctly.

Which Filing Do You Need

The two tracks solve different problems, and filing the wrong one wastes time you may not be able to get back.

A Petition for Discretionary Review under Rule 68 is the right filing when a court of appeals has already decided your direct appeal and you believe that court got something wrong. Review is discretionary; the CCA does not have to take the case. You have 30 days from the date the court of appeals rendered its judgment, or from the date it overruled the last timely motion for rehearing or en banc reconsideration, to get your petition on file.¹

An Article 11.07 habeas corpus application under Rule 73 is the right filing when your felony conviction is final and you are raising claims that could not have been raised on direct appeal, such as ineffective assistance of counsel or newly discovered evidence. There is no strict filing deadline, but delay can hurt your credibility and narrow the relief available. The application must use the CCA’s prescribed form.²

A PDR challenges the court of appeals opinion. A habeas application challenges the underlying conviction. If you lost your direct appeal and the court of appeals affirmed, you may have grounds to pursue both — a PDR within the 30-day window, and a habeas application later — but they are separate proceedings on separate tracks.

Filing a Petition for Discretionary Review

The 30-Day Deadline

The clock starts the day the court of appeals renders its judgment. A timely motion for rehearing or en banc reconsideration resets the clock to 30 days after that motion is overruled.³ Miss the window and the CCA will not consider your petition. There is no grace period and extensions are rare.

What the Petition Must Contain

Rule 68.4 spells out exactly what has to appear in a PDR. The petition must be addressed to the “Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas” and must be as brief as possible, and it must include each of the following:⁴

The identity of the trial court judge, all parties to the judgment, and the names and addresses of trial and appellate counsel on both sides.
A table of contents with page references, indicating the subject matter of each ground or question presented.
An index of authorities, alphabetically arranged with page references.
A statement on oral argument — briefly explaining why it would help, or waiving it.
A statement of the case, half a page or less, describing the nature of the case.
A statement of procedural history giving the date of the court of appeals’ opinion or order, the date any rehearing motion was filed, and the date it was overruled.
The grounds for review, each stated briefly and numbered separately, without argument. You may frame them as questions presented instead. Include record page references after each ground if you have access to the record.
A direct, concise argument with supporting authorities explaining why the CCA should grant review.
A prayer for relief stating clearly what you want the court to do.
An appendix with a copy of the court of appeals’ opinion.

Grounds the CCA Weighs

The CCA has broad discretion to refuse review. Rule 66.3 lists six factors the court looks at when deciding whether to take a case:⁵

The court of appeals’ decision conflicts with another court of appeals’ decision on the same issue.
The court of appeals decided an important question of state or federal law that has not been, but should be, settled.
The court of appeals’ decision conflicts with a CCA or U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The court of appeals declared a statute, rule, or ordinance unconstitutional, or appears to have misconstrued one.
The justices on the court of appeals panel disagreed on a material legal question necessary to the decision.
The court of appeals departed so far from the accepted course of judicial proceedings that the CCA’s supervisory power is called for.

Your petition needs to show the case fits at least one of these categories. Fact-bound complaints that matter only to your verdict, with no wider legal significance, are the ones most likely to be refused.⁶ Frame your grounds around how the issue affects Texas criminal law statewide.

Filing Fee and Indigency

A PDR carries a filing fee set by the CCA clerk’s office. Check the court’s website or call the clerk for the current amount. If a trial court already found you indigent and appointed counsel in the criminal case, that finding carries forward on appeal and entitles you to free appellate records; the appointment order is typically enough to establish your status.⁷

One point of confusion to head off: the Chapter 14 requirement that inmates attach a certified six-month trust account statement applies to civil inmate litigation, not to criminal appeals.⁸ It does not govern a criminal PDR.

Service on the State Prosecuting Attorney

Every PDR must be served on the State Prosecuting Attorney, which is a separate office from the local district attorney. Rule 80.1 requires service on the State Prosecuting Attorney for every petition, brief, reply, response, amendment, or supplement filed by any party.⁹ Serve all other parties at or before the time of filing. Forgetting the State Prosecuting Attorney is a common and avoidable mistake.

Documents filed electronically are served through the electronic filing manager when the other party’s email is on file. Otherwise, service can be by mail, commercial delivery, fax, or email. Every filing needs proof of service, either an acknowledgment from the person served or a certificate of service signed by the person who made service and listing the date, manner, and name and address of each person served.¹⁰

Filing an Article 11.07 Habeas Corpus Application

The 11.07 application does not start at the CCA. You file it in the trial court where you were convicted, and the CCA reviews it later.¹¹

Use the CCA’s official prescribed form. It is available on the Court of Criminal Appeals’ website, and district clerks in the county of conviction must provide it on request at no charge.² File the completed application with the district clerk in the county of conviction. The clerk assigns an ancillary file number tied to the original criminal case and forwards a copy to the prosecutor’s office.¹¹ Because the clerk handles that forwarding, the service burden on you is lighter than for a PDR.

What Goes on the Form

The form has sections for your case information, conviction details, plea and trial type, sentence status, appeal history, and any prior habeas applications.¹² Fill out every section. Any ground for relief that is not raised on the form will not be considered. Each ground gets two pages to summarize the legal basis and supporting facts. If you are challenging multiple cause numbers from the same proceedings, use a separate form for each cause number.

Legal citations and longer arguments go in a separate memorandum, not on the form. The memorandum cannot exceed 15,000 words if computer-generated or 50 pages if handwritten or typewritten. Computer-generated documents must use at least 14-point type, with 12-point permitted for footnotes.²

Verification

The application must be verified, either sworn before a notary public or submitted as an unsworn declaration under Chapter 132 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. The form has verification sections for both inmates and non-inmates. You do not need to verify from personal knowledge; verification “according to belief” is acceptable.¹¹

No Filing Fee

There is no filing fee for an Article 11.07 habeas application. The Texas Code of Criminal Procedure prohibits charging fees for habeas corpus filings.¹¹

How to Submit Your Filing

E-Filing Through eFileTexas

E-filing through eFileTexas.gov is mandatory for all attorneys filing criminal cases in the Court of Criminal Appeals.¹³ During upload, select the correct case category, pay the filing fee if you are filing a PDR, and attach any supporting documents. Self-represented filers who are not incarcerated may also use the system.

The Prisoner Mailbox Rule

Incarcerated people filing pro se are generally exempt from e-filing and may submit paper filings. Under the prisoner mailbox rule, a pro se inmate’s filing is considered filed on the date it is delivered to prison authorities, not the date the court clerk receives it. Keep a record of the day you hand your filing to prison staff; that date controls whether you met your deadline.

What Happens After You File

Once the CCA clerk receives a PDR, staff review it for technical compliance: correct form, proper service, timely filing, and all required sections. If everything is in order, the clerk assigns a case number and sends a notice of receipt. The CCA then decides whether to grant or refuse review. The court can grant review any time before the court of appeals’ mandate issues. If review is granted, both sides brief the merits and the court may schedule oral argument. If review is refused, the court of appeals’ decision stands and the mandate issues.

For an Article 11.07 application, the trial judge reviews the application first, may order the state to respond, and can hold an evidentiary hearing or make findings on the record. The trial court then sends its findings and recommendation to the CCA, which makes the final decision to grant or deny relief.

If the CCA Denies Relief

Two further options remain after the CCA refuses a PDR or denies habeas relief.

Federal Habeas Corpus

A state prisoner whose constitutional claims have been rejected in state court can file a federal habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act imposes a one-year deadline. The clock starts from the latest of: the date your conviction became final after direct review and the time for seeking further review expired; the date a state-created impediment to filing was removed; the date the Supreme Court recognized a new constitutional right made retroactive to cases on collateral review; or the date you discovered, or could have discovered through reasonable diligence, the factual basis for your claim.¹⁴

Time spent on a properly filed state post-conviction application does not count against the one-year limit. The clock pauses while state habeas proceedings are pending and resumes afterward.¹⁴ Filing state habeas promptly preserves more of your federal window.

U.S. Supreme Court Certiorari

You may petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari within 90 days after the CCA enters its order denying discretionary review or habeas relief. If you filed a motion for rehearing that was denied, the 90 days run from the denial of rehearing.¹⁵ A Justice may extend the period by up to 60 days for good cause, but the extension request must reach the Clerk at least 10 days before the original deadline except in extraordinary circumstances.

If you cannot afford the costs, you may move to proceed in forma pauperis. If you had appointed counsel in the proceeding below, the motion need only cite the provision under which counsel was appointed or attach the appointment order. If you did not have appointed counsel, you must complete an affidavit or declaration of indigency, and every question must be fully answered or the Clerk will reject the petition.¹⁶

1
Texas Judicial Branch. Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure – Rule 68.2
2
Texas Judicial Branch. Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure – Rule 73.1
3
Texas Judicial Branch. Texas Rules of Appellate Procedures – Rule 68.2
4
Texas Judicial Branch. Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure – Rule 68.4
5
Texas Judicial Branch. Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure – Rule 66.3
6
State Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Petitions for Discretionary Review and Motions for Rehearing
7
Texas Judicial Branch. Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure – Rule 20.2
8
State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 14-006
9
Texas Judicial Branch. Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure – Rule 80.1
10
Texas Judicial Branch. Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure – Rule 9.5
11
Texas Judicial Branch. Article 11.07 Writs of Habeas Corpus
12
Texas Judicial Branch. Article 11.07 Application Form
13
eFileTexas.Gov. E-File FAQs
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2244 – Finality of Determination
15
Legal Information Institute. Supreme Court Rule 13 – Review on Certiorari Time for Petitioning
16
Supreme Court of the United States. Guide for Prospective Indigent Petitioners for Writs of Certiorari