Ashton Blake Locke v. State

Opinion

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

NO. 03-19-00839-CR

Ashton Blake Locke, Appellant v.

The State of Texas, Appellee

FROM THE 391ST DISTRICT COURT OF TOM GREEN COUNTY NO. D-19-0054-SA, THE HONORABLE BRAD GOODWIN, JUDGE PRESIDING

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant Ashton Blake Locke has filed a pro se notice of appeal from the district court’s pretrial order denying his court-appointed counsel’s motion to withdraw. With few exceptions, this Court does not have jurisdiction to review pretrial orders in criminal cases. See Apolinar v. State, 820 S.W.2d 792, 794 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991); McKown v. State, 915 S.W.2d 160, 161 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 1996, no pet.). In criminal cases, “[t]he standard for determining jurisdiction is not whether the appeal is precluded by law, but whether the appeal is authorized by law.” Abbott v. State, 271 S.W.3d 694, 696–97 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008); see also Ragston v. State, 424 S.W.3d 49, 52 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014) (“Jurisdiction must be expressly given to the courts of appeals in a statute.”). No statute authorizes an appeal from an order denying a request for the dismissal or withdrawal of court-appointed counsel. See Estrada v. State, No. 01-18-00645-CR, 2018 Tex. App. LEXIS 7287, at *1–2 (Tex. App.—Houston

[1st Dist.] Aug. 31, 2018, no pet.) (per curiam) (mem. op., not designated for publication) (“The statute authorizing trial courts to appoint counsel for indigent criminal defendants does not authorize interlocutory appeals of the denial of a defendant’s request to dismiss his appointed counsel.”); Lopez v. State, No. 04-18-00165-CR, 2018 Tex. App. LEXIS 3250, at *1–2 (Tex. App.—San Antonio May 9, 2018, no pet.) (per curiam) (mem. op., not designated for publication) (similarly concluding that appellate court lacked jurisdiction to review trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to dismiss court-appointed counsel). Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction.

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Gisela D. Triana, Justice

Before Chief Justice Rose, Justices Baker and Triana Dismissed for Want of Jurisdiction Filed: February 12, 2020 Do Not Publish