SUE WALKER, Justice.
Crisp was charged with sexual assault of a child under seventeen years of age. He waived a jury trial and entered an open plea of guilty. The trial court found him guilty and sentenced him to 15 years' imprisonment. In the written judgment of conviction, the trial court also assessed court costs of $624.
In a single point, Crisp complains that there is no evidence in the record to support the trial court's assessment of $624 in court costs. He argues that the record does not contain a bill of costs or other indication of what the $624 represents. Thus, Crisp argues, "without knowing what the costs are for, [he] and this Court cannot assess whether the assessment of those costs was proper." Although the original clerk's record in this case did not contain a bill of costs, after the State received Crisp's appellate brief, the State directed the district clerk to prepare, certify, and file with this court a supplemental clerk's record containing a bill of costs. The district clerk subsequently filed a supplemental clerk's record containing the State's letter; an order to withdraw funds from Crisp's inmate account to pay court costs of $624; a bill of costs signed by the Tarrant County District Clerk, who certified that $624 in court costs were assessed in this case; and a printout entitled "List of Fee Breakdowns," itemizing the court costs assessed.
Court costs are pre-determined, legislatively-mandated obligations resulting from a conviction. See, e.g., Tex. Gov't Code Ann. §§ 102.001-.142 (West 2013) (setting forth various court costs that a convicted person "shall" pay); see also Houston v. State, No. 02-12-00514-CR, 410 S.W.3d 475, 477, 2013 WL 4473763, at *2 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth Aug. 22, 2013, no. pet. h.). The court of criminal appeals has explained that "court costs, as reflected in a certified bill of costs, need neither be orally pronounced nor incorporated by reference in the judgment to be effective." Armstrong v. State, 340 S.W.3d 759, 766 (Tex.Crim.App.2011); Weir v. State, 278 S.W.3d 364, 367 (Tex. Crim.App.2009). "This is because court costs do not `alter the range of punishment to which the defendant is subject, or the number of years assessed' and, thus, are not part of the sentence." Armstrong, 340 S.W.3d at 767 (quoting Weir, 278 S.W.3d at 367). Instead, court costs are compensatory in nature; that is, they are "a nonpunitive recoupment of the costs of judicial resources expended in connection with the
Under article 103.001 of the code of criminal procedure, "[a] cost is not payable by the person charged with the cost until a written bill is produced or is ready to be produced, containing the items of cost, signed by the officer who charged the cost or the officer who is entitled to receive payment for the cost." Id. art. 103.001 (West 2006). Article 103.006 provides that if a criminal action is appealed, "an officer of the court shall certify and sign a bill of costs stating the costs that have accrued and send the bill of costs to the court to which the action or proceeding is transferred or appealed." Id. art. 103.006 (West 2006).
We recently addressed whether we can consider a bill of cost that is prepared and filed via a supplemental record after the appellant has appealed. See Houston, 410 S.W.3d at 477-80. We agreed with our sister courts that we can consider such a bill of costs as support for the trial court's earlier assessment of a specific amount of court costs. See id.; see also Coronel v. State, No. 05-12-00493-CR, ___ S.W.3d ___, ___, 2013 WL 3874446, at *5 (Tex. App.-Dallas July 29, 2013, no pet. h.); Ballinger v. State, 405 S.W.3d 346, 347 (Tex. App.-Tyler 2013, no. pet.); Allen v. State, No. 06-12-00166-CR, ___ S.W.3d ___, ___, 2013 WL 1316965, at *2 (Tex.App.-Texarkana Apr. 3, 2013, no pet.); Cardenas v. State, 403 S.W.3d 377, 382-85 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2013, pet. granted) (op. on reh'g); cf. Johnson v. State, 389 S.W.3d 513, 515 & n. 1 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2012, pet. granted) (holding that an unsigned computer printout from JIMS that does not show it was brought to the attention of the trial judge is not an actual bill of costs under article 103.001). As we explained in Houston,
Houston, 410 S.W.3d at 479.
In this case, now that the appellate record has been supplemented with a bill of costs and attached "List of Free Breakdowns," the record contains support for the trial court's assessment of $624 in court costs; none of the costs assessed are
Because the record now contains a bill of costs with an attached "List of Fee Breakdown," setting forth the items of cost that have accrued to total $624 in court costs owed by Crisp and supporting the trial court's assessment of $624 in court costs in its written judgment, we overrule Crisp's sole point and affirm the trial court's judgment.