Austen Lopez v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: October 1, 2020
• Docket: 14-20-00289-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

Abatement Order filed October 1, 2020.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals ____________

NO. 14-20-00289-CR ____________

AUSTEN LOPEZ, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 462nd Judicial District Court Denton County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. F17-3042-367

ABATEMENT ORDER

Appellant is represented on appeal by appointed counsel, Shelly Messerli. On August 26, 2020, counsel filed a motion to withdraw as appellate counsel because she has taken a position with the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth, Texas. Accordingly, we enter the following order.

We ORDER the judge of the 462nd District Court to consider counsel’s request to withdraw. If current counsel is permitted to withdraw, the judge shall appoint new appellate counsel for appellant. The judge shall see that a record of any hearing is made, and shall order the trial clerk to forward a record of the hearing and a supplemental clerk’s record containing any orders permitting counsel to withdraw and appointing new counsel. Those records shall be filed with the clerk of this court within 30 days of the date of this order.

The appeal is abated, treated as a closed case, and removed from this court’s active docket. The appeal will be reinstated on this court’s active docket when the trial court’s findings and recommendations are filed in this court.

PER CURIAM.

Panel consists of Chief Justice Frost and Justices Wise and Bourliot.