Edward Houston v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided October 15, 2015·No. 04-15-00513-CR·Published

Opinion

Richard B. Dulany, Jr. Attorney at Law P.O. Box 782524 ♦ San Antonio, Texas 78278 Phone: (210) 373-2303 ♦ Fax: (210) 444-9070 richardduIany@gmail.coni l"0 C3 ;

cn O O October 5,2015 —« •o J'Cl-Tl

Ol If-- QcjT'i SENT BY CERTIFIED MAIL, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED ~X3 ib-nO ARTICLE NO.: 70101870 0003 3825 1460 ••

CO .V'1 * Edward Houston

SID# 1030429 BCADC 200 N. Coma! San Antonio, TX 78207

Re: Edward Houston v. The State of Texas Case No. 04-15-00513-CR

Dear Mr. Houston:

Your appeal was assigned to me when Iwas employed by the Bexar County Public Defender's Office. Iwas fired bythat office on September 24,2015.1 have no access to your file, so Ican do no work on your case. Ialso cannot receive any letters or emails that may have been sentto my former address at the public defender's office. Nevertheless, Iam still listed as your attorney onthe Fourth Court ofAppeals' website.

Idonotwant your appeal to be delayed any further. Ialso want the trial court to determine who will be your attorney foryour appeal. For those reasons, Ifiled a motion to withdraw as counsel. Acopy isenclosed. You have a right to object to my motion. If you want to object, you should write to: Honorable Keith E. Hottle, Clerk, Fourth Court of Appeals District, Cadena-Reeves Justice Center, 300Dolorosa, Suite 3200, San Antonio, TX 78205. As Istated in my motion, 1am willing to represent you on appeal ifI am appointed, but that is a matter for the trial court to determine.

Sincerely,

RICHARD B. DULANY, JR. Attorney at Law

enclosure ACCEPTEl 04-15-00513-CI FOURTH COURT OF APPEAL: SAN ANTONIO. TEXA! 10/2/2015 10:52:16 M KEITH HOTTLI CLERI

No. 04-15-00513-CR

IN THE FOURTH COURT OF APPEALS OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

EDWARD HOUSTON lJ§p41F"o o

X -H—r" o cn oon V.

o THE STATE OF TEXAS f*" LEEEP.y. •JO CO X cn ' •'-

MOTION TO WITHDRAW AS COUNSEL

TO THE HONORABLE JUSTICES OF THE FOURTH COURT OF APPEALS OF TEXAS:

COMES NOW, EDWARD HOUSTON, the Appellant in the above styled

and numbered cause, through the undersigned counsel, pursuant to Texas Rules of

Appellate Procedure 6.1,6.5,10.1(a) and 10,2, and files this motion to withdraw as

counsel forthe Appellant. In support of this motion, undersigned counsel

respectfully shows the following:

I. The factual basis for this motion:

The trial court appointed attorney Michael Young, in his capacity as Chief

Public Defender ofBexar County, Texas, torepresent the Appellant inthis case. The case was assigned to the undersigned attorney while he was employed as an

Assistant Public Defender with the Appellate Unit of the Bexar County Public

Defender's Office. The undersigned attorney entered his appearance as lead counsel

for the Appellant by filing the docketing statement in this case.

On September 24,2015, the undersigned attomey was abruptly fired byChief

Public Defender Michael Young and is no longer employed by the Bexar County

Public Defender's Office. The imdersigned attomeyofferedto continue to represent

the Appellant inthis case, but Mr. Young refused and said the Public Defender's Office would "keep" its cases. Mr. Young told the undersigned to leave the office

immediately. The undersigned attomey was not allowed to access his former work computer orelectronic files, and has no access to the physical file that he created for this case. He also cannot receive any emails that this Court may have sentto his

former Bexar County email address, including any notices ororders relating to this case. In short, the undersigned can do no further work in this case.

Within a few hours afterbeing fired, the undersigned attomey metin person

with the Honorable Clerk of the Court, KeithHottle, to explainthat he couldtake no

further action in this case despite the pending deadline for filing theAppellant's

brief. The undersigned provided the same information by letter the next day. One week later, the undersigned still listed as lead counsel in this case perthe Court's website. To avoid being held accountable for any further delay in this case,

and also to avoid being held accountable for some other person's filings orsimilar actions, taken without the undersigned attomey's knowledge or consent even while

he is still listed as lead counsel on this Court's website, the undersigned now must

formally move to withdraw as counsel for the Appellant. All ofthese facts are within thepersonal knowledge of the undersigned attomey.

II. Required contents of a motion for leave to withdraw:

Rule 6.5(a) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure requires the

withdrawing attomey to provide the following information:

(1) The appellant's briefis due to be filed on [no date set]. The court reporter's record was due to be filed on September 28,2015.

(2) The appellant's last known address is: Edward Houston, #1030429, Bexar County Adult Detention Center, 200 N. Comal, San Antonio, TX 78207. (3) Acopy ofthis motion was mailed to the Appellant via Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested, Article No. 7010 1870 0003 3825 1406

(4) The Appellant was informed that he could object to this motion, and also informed that theundersigned attomey no longer works for theBexar County

Public Defender's Office. in. The undersigned attorney will accept appointment in this case;

If appointed by the trial court, the undersigned attorney will continue to

represent theAppellant inthis case, butonly iftheAppellant consents andthe Bexar

County Public Defender's Office is removed as counsel of record.

PRAYER

THEREFORE, undersigned counsel for the Appellant prays that this Court

temporarily abate this appeal and remand this case to the trial court for a hearing on this motion. As always, the Appellant also asks this Court to grant all such reliefas is fair and just.

Respectfully submitted,

RICHARD B. DULANY, JR. Texas Bar No. 06196400 Attomey at Law P.O. Box 782524 San Antonio, TX 78278 (210) 373-2303 (210) 444-9070 fax richarddulany@gmail.com

/s/ Richard B. Dulany, Jr.

RICHARD B. DULANY, JR.

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE AND COMPLIANCE

The undersigned does hereby certify thata copy of the above motion was

delivered by electronic service to the Appellate Section of the State's Attorney:

Nicholas A. LaHood, Criminal District Attorney, Bexar County District Attomey's

Office, Appellate Section, 101 W. Nueva St., Suite 710, SanAntonio, Texas 78205,

on October 2,2015. The word count is 784.

/s/ Richard B. Dulany, Jr.

RICHARD B. DULANY, JR. Cause NO. A^WC£7£«57 S

THE STATE OF TEXAS INTHEDIS |UI§ £g VS. 9-^7 JUDICtAL' TRigr 5::;r , 0c5>r?i B/JL/arrl /-/ooxj-ftn BEXARCOt TEX® 3^'^

AFFIDAVIT

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AFFIANT

* * STATE OF TEXAS * * * * * COUNTY OF BEXAR *

ON THIS /3? DAY OF OC~fZ>J?^ 20.^ PERSONALLY APPEARED BEFORE ME HousW^ WHO STATED UNDER OATH THAT THE ABOVE AND FOREGOING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE AFFEDAVIT IS TRUE AND CORRECT.

SWORN TO AND SIGNED BEFQEE ME ON THIS THE /3 DAY OF Doio^^ 20/7 . \M/MW/u}/W/WW/UMW///MWWffii ( JJ /7 ^! jr LINDA GARZA 8 NOTARY PUBLfC S STATE OF TEXAS % OTARY PUBLIC My Comffl, Bxp. 1044-2016 8 K fiOO^ '(ISO FISr^T.n Mail Le^crOyl^ 2c>

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