Bobby Ray Turner, Jr. v. State
This text of Bobby Ray Turner, Jr. v. State (Bobby Ray Turner, Jr. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
In The Court of Appeals Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana
No. 06-17-00025-CR
BOBBY RAY TURNER, JR., Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 102nd District Court Bowie County, Texas Trial Court No. 16F0481-102
Before Morriss, C.J., Moseley and Burgess, JJ. ORDER
Appellant Bobby Ray Turner, Jr., was convicted in Bowie County, Texas, of burglary of a
habitation with a prior felony conviction and was sentenced to twenty years’ incarceration. The
trial court appointed J. Randle Smolarz to represent Turner on appeal, and on April 18, 2017,
Smolarz filed an appellate brief on Turner’s behalf.
It has come to this Court’s attention that sometime after April 18, 2017, Smolarz was hired
by the Bowie County District Attorney’s Office as an assistant district attorney. The Bowie County
District Attorney’s Office is, obviously, representing the State in this matter. Given that Smolarz
is now a member of the Bowie County District Attorney’s Office, his continued representation of
Turner in this matter is inappropriate.
In light of the foregoing, on our own motion, and in the interests of justice, we abate this
appeal to the trial court with directions to relieve J. Randle Smolarz of any further responsibility
in this matter and to appoint new counsel to represent Turner before this Court through the
remainder of the appeal. We are confident that the Bowie County District Attorney’s Office has
established an appropriate wall between Smolarz and all aspects of this case.
The trial court need not hold a hearing to accomplish this new appointment. A written
memorialization of the trial court’s new appointment shall be entered into the record of the case
and presented to this Court in the form of a supplemental clerk’s record within five days of the
date of this order, or on or before August 7, 2017. Upon receipt of the supplemental clerk’s record
identifying new counsel, this abatement will terminate. We will not withdraw the current
2 submission date of July 31, 2017, but will, instead, cease further consideration of the appeal until
jurisdiction has been returned to this Court.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
BY THE COURT
Date: July 31, 2017
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