Bower, Lester Leroy Jr.

Opinion

WR-21,005-02, -03, -04, -05 COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS Transmitted 4/27/2015 4:36:36 PM Accepted 4/28/2015 8:55:18 AM ABEL ACOSTA Nos. Nos. 21,005- 21,005-02, -03, -04, -05 CLERK ____________________________ RECEIVED COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TEXAS 4/28/2015 AT AUSTIN ABEL ACOSTA, CLERK ____________________________

EX PARTE LESTER LEROY BOWER, Applicant.

____________________________

ON APPLICATION APPLICATION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS, CORPUS, IN CAUSE NOS NOS. 33426- 33426-A, 33427 33427-A, 33428 33428-A, & 33429- 33429-A, FROM THE 15TH JUDICIAL COURT OF GRAYSON COUNTY ____________________________

UNOPPOSED MOTION TO GRANT ACCESS TO RECORDS ____________________________

TO THE HONORABLE JUDGES OF THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS:

The Attorney General of Texas, by and through his attorney of record,

Assistant Attorney General Stephen M. Hoffman, requests that the Court

allow transmittal to and use of the records in this matter by the Office of

General Counsel for the Governor of the State of Texas in order to evaluate Mr.

Bower for executive clemency or a thirty-day reprieve. This Court has deemed

these records confidential due to the presence of sealed documents within the

records. These records were previously transmitted to the Court for its

consideration in relation to Bower’s Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article

11.071 application for a state writ of habeas corpus. See Ex parte Bower, Nos. 21,005-02, -03, -04, -05 (Tex. Crim. App. Jun. 11, 2014) (per curiam)

(unpublished). Mr. Bower is currently scheduled for execution on June 3, 2015.

This is not a request that any records should be disclosed to the general

public, and all prior orders sealing various documents and designating the

record confidential should remain in effect. All items currently sealed shall

remain sealed and the general public will not have access to the record.

Defense counsel, D’Andra Shu, Esq., was contacted on April 24, 2015, and

indicated that she was not opposed to the release of these records to the

Governor’s Office for the purposes of executive clemency or reprieve.

CONCLUSION

The Attorney General respectfully requests that the Court allow access

to the records in cause numbers 21,005-02, -03, -04, & -05 by the Office of

General Counsel for the Governor of the State of Texas to evaluate Mr. Bower

for executive clemency or thirty-day reprieve.

Respectfully submitted,

KEN PAXTON Attorney General of Texas

CHARLES E. ROY First Assistant Attorney General

ADRIENNE MCFARLAND Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice

2 EDWARD L. MARSHALL Chief, Criminal Appeals Division

/s/ Stephen M. Hoffman * Attorney-in-charge *STEPHEN M. HOFFMAN Assistant Attorney General Texas Bar No. 24048978 P. O. Box 12548, Capitol Station Austin, Texas 78711 Tel: (512) 936-1400 Fax: (512) 320-8132 Email: Stephen.Hoffman@ texasattorneygeneral.gov

ATTORNEYS FOR RESPONDENT

3 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

Pursuant to Rule 9.5(b)(1) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure, I

do hereby certify that, if the email address for counsel of record for applicant

is on file with the electronic filing manager, then a true and correct copy of the

foregoing pleading was served electronically through the electronic filing

manager. In the event that counsel’s email address was not on file at the time

this motion was filed, I do hereby certify that on this the 27th day of April,

2015, a true and correct copy of the foregoing pleading was served on counsel,

via electronic mail to:

Peter Buscemi, Esq. MORGAN, LEWIS, AND BOCKIUS LLP 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20004 Email: pbuscemi@morganlewis.com

D’Andra Millsap Shu, Esq. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP 1000 Louisiana Street, Suite 4000 Houston, TX 77002-5005 Email: dshu@morganlewis.com Counsel for Lester Leroy Bower, Jr.

/s/ Stephen M. Hoffman STEPHEN HOFFMAN Assistant Attorney General

4 Nos. 21,005- 21,005-02, -03, -04, -05 ____________________________

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN ____________________________

ON APPLICATION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS, IN CAUSE NOS. 33426- 33426-A, 33427- 33427-A, 33428- 33428-A, & 33429- 33429-A, FROM THE 15TH JUDICIAL COURT OF GRAYSON COUNTY ____________________________

ORDER ____________________________

This Court hereby grants the Office of General Counsel for the Governor

of the State of Texas access to the records in cause numbers 21,005-02, -03, -

04, & -05 for to evaluate the applicant for executive clemency or thirty-day

reprieve. All prior orders sealing documents and designating the record

confidential shall remain in place, and the records shall not be disclosed to the

general public.

SIGNED on this the ________ day of _________________, 2015.

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