Austin Vaughn Greer v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: January 7, 2020
• Docket: 14-18-01000-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

Abatement Order filed January 7, 2020.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals ____________

NO. 14-18-01000-CR ____________

AUSTIN VAUGHN GREER, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 458th District Court Fort Bend County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 15-DCR-070181A

ABATEMENT ORDER

The Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office has filed a motion to abate and remand this case to the trial court for consideration of its request to permit the District Attorney and his Assistant District Attorneys to recuse in a particular case for good cause. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 2.07. No response was filed.

“A district attorney who is not legally disqualified may request that the district court permit him to recuse himself in a particular case for good cause. This procedure allows the district attorney to avoid conflicts of interest and even the appearance of impropriety by deciding not to participate in certain cases.” Coleman v. State, 246 S.W.3d 76, 81 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008). The motion is granted.

The trial court is directed to immediately consider the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office’s request to permit the District Attorney and his Assistant District Attorneys to recuse from this case. If the trial court finds good cause for the recusal and grants the request, the trial court shall appoint a District Attorney Pro Tem and see that a supplemental clerk’s record containing the appointment order is filed in this court within twenty 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 supplemental record is filed in this court. This court also will consider an appropriate motion to reinstate the appeal filed by either party, or this court may reinstate the appeal on its own motion.

PER CURIAM

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