Dusty Lee Winkler v. the State of Texas

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo

No. 07-22-00285-CR

DUSTY LEE WINKLER, APPELLANT V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE

On Appeal from the 396th District Court Tarrant County, Texas1

Trial Court No. 1614611D, Honorable Robert P. Brotherton, Presiding

May 30, 2023

ORDER OF ABATEMENT AND REMAND Before PARKER and DOSS and YARBROUGH, JJ.

Appellant, Dusty Lee Winkler, appeals his conviction for continuous sexual abuse of a child2 and sentence to forty years’ confinement. Appellant’s brief is due May 30, 2023. Now pending before this Court is Appellant’s motion to substitute his appointed counsel, William R. Biggs, for newly retained counsel, Tonya Rolland. Because the trial

1Originally appealed to the Second Court of Appeals, this appeal was transferred to this Court by the Texas Supreme Court pursuant to its docket equalization efforts. See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 73.001.

2 See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 21.02.

court has responsibility for appointing counsel to represent indigent defendants in criminal cases as well as the authority to relieve or replace appointed counsel, we abate the appeal and remand the cause to the trial court to rule on Appellant’s motion to substitute counsel. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. arts. 1.051(d), 26.04(j)(2); Enriquez v. State, 999 S.W.2d 906, 907–08 (Tex. App.—Waco 1999, order) (per curiam).

Upon remand, the trial court shall determine (1) whether Appellant still desires to prosecute the appeal; and (2) whether to permit Appellant’s appointed attorney to withdraw and Appellant’s retained attorney to substitute as counsel. The trial court shall enter such orders necessary to address the aforementioned questions. The trial court’s orders shall be included in a supplemental clerk’s record to be filed with this Court by June 13, 2023.

It is so ordered.

Per Curiam

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