MEMORANDUM OPINION

A jury convicted Bradley Allen Everline of indecency with a child by sexual contact.^[1] After finding one enhancement paragraph true, the trial court sentenced Everline to 15 years in prison.

Fines, unlike court costs, are punitive in nature and are therefore properly included in a defendant’s sentence. See Anastassov v. State, 664 S.W.3d 815, 820 (Tex. Crim. App. 2022). And a defendant’s sentence, which includes any fine imposed, must be orally pronounced in the defendant’s presence. See Armstrong v. State, 340 S.W.3d 759, 767 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011); Taylor v. State, 131 S.W.3d 497, 500 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004). “When there is a conflict between the oral pronouncement of sentence and the sentence in the written judgment, the oral pronouncement controls.” Taylor, 131 S.W.3d at 500.

Here, there is no dispute that Everline’s conviction occurred after the effective date of the Cost Act, meaning that the Child Abuse Prevention Fine is classified as a fine and should have been orally pronounced at sentencing. See Rodriguez, 2025 WL 1373693, at[*16] . It was not. Therefore, we hold that, because the trial court did not orally pronounce a fine as part of Everline’s sentence and the oral pronouncement controls over the judgment, the $100 Child Abuse Prevention Fine was improperly included in the written judgment. See id.

We have the authority to modify and reform a judgment when the necessary information is available to do so. TEX. R. APP. P. 43.2(b); see Bigley v. State, 865 S.W.2d 26, 27–28 (Tex. Crim. App. 1993); French v. State, 830 S.W.2d 607, 609 (Tex. Crim. App. 1992). Because the Child Abuse Prevention Fine was not orally pronounced by the trial court at sentencing, we modify the trial court’s judgment to strike this $100 fine.

Conclusion

We affirm the trial court’s judgment of conviction as modified.

Terry Adams Chief Justice Panel consists of Chief Justice Adams and Justices Guerra and Guiney. Do Not Publish. TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).