John Anthony Adams v. State

418 S.W.3d 803, 2013 WL 6516398, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 15054
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided December 13, 2013·No. 06-13-00013-CR·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinions

OPINION

Opinion by Justice CARTER.

Due to his uncooperative, unruly, and, at times, offensive behavior, John Anthony Adams was removed from the courtroom before the formal commencement of his trial. Adams was not returned to the courtroom until after he had been found guilty of two counts of indecency with a child by contact.1 Adams’ appointed counsel had been instructed that his role in the trial was that of “shadow counsel.” Consequently, he did nothing during the course of Adams’ trial. In effect, Adams was tried and convicted in absentia without the representation of counsel. The denial of counsel violated Adams’ Sixth Amendment right to the assistance of counsel and is presumptively harmful. See U.S. Const. amend. VI. We further find that the evidence was sufficient to establish Adams’ identity as the accused named in the State’s indictment and as the individual who committed the charged offenses. We reverse the conviction and remand this case to the trial court for a new trial.

1. Courtroom Procedure

The events that led to Adams being tried in abstentia and without the assistance of counsel require some explanation. The charged offenses, two counts of indecency with a child by contact, allegedly occurred November 17, 2011. Adams was arrested and placed in jail two days later.2 The indictment was filed February 3, 2012. On February 23, 2012, attorney Tim Cone filed several motions as counsel for Adams. On November 19, 2012, Cone filed a motion to withdraw as counsel. At a November 26, 2012, hearing on Cone’s motion to withdraw, Cone identified a lack of trust and communication between Adams and himself as the primary issues leading to his request. While acknowledging during the hearing that he had not been fully paid for his services, Cone affirmatively stated that compensation was not a primary factor behind his request to withdraw. On the issue of compensation, Adams, who was present at the November 26 hearing, believed that he and Cone had agreed that Cone would be paid when the case was resolved. On the issue of Cone’s withdrawal, Adams said that he did not disagree with Cone’s withdrawal, but he also [806]*806stated that the withdrawal would adversely affect him because it would be difficult to find “representation as good if not better than [Cone].” Adams told the trial court he planned to retain counsel, and the trial court specifically instructed him that he needed to do that. However, seven days later, on December 3, the trial court appointed J. Scott Novy to represent Adams in this case. Novy promptly filed standard pretrial motions concerning the child-victim’s testimony and recorded statements. Then, on January 3, 2013, Adams filed a pro se motion for a continuance alleging that counsel had withdrawn from his case and that he was seeking counsel outside of the area. Adams’ pro se motion neither mentioned nor acknowledged the trial court’s appointment of Novy as counsel.

The trial began January 14, 2013. Before voir dire, Adams refused to be sworn in as a witness and invited the court to hold him in contempt. Adams stated that he had contacted some law firms in Austin about representing him and that he had received an email from one firm, but he acknowledged that no attorney from any of the firms he had contacted would be in court to represent him that day. Adams complained that the trial court had not given him enough time to retain counsel. The trial court responded that she had appointed Novy to represent him. Adams then indicated that he had told Novy he would be retaining his own counsel and that Novy “was good with that.” Adams then turned his back to the bench, prompting the following exchange between the trial court and Adams:

THE COURT: I will go ahead and admonish you, Mr. Adams, there are certain things, it is my understanding that — well, first of all I appointed Mr. Novy to represent you. You have informed the court that you do not want Mr. Novy representing you; therefore, Mr. Novy — Mr. Novy’s status has changed from representing you as court-appointed counsel to being appointed as a shadow counsel. He will not interfere with your—
[The Defendant]: He was never appointed as counsel.
THE COURT: So you are listening. Thank you. He will not interfere with your representation of yourself which you will be doing since you have refused to allow Mr. Novy to represent you. Am I correct, you do not want Mr. Novy to represent you? Okay. Well, he’s been appointed ... He will be serving now, because of your refusal to accept him as your court-appointed attorney, unless you tell me otherwise right now he will be acting as shadow attorney....

The record does not show that Adams waived his right to counsel or that he asked to represent himself. The trial court continued to admonish Adams, who kept arguing and interrupting. Adams then invited the trial court to hold him in contempt because the proceedings were, in Adams’ opinion, “ludicrous.”

A short time later, the venire was seabed, and the trial court began explaining the jury selection process. By way of introduction, the trial court informed the venire members that the matter for trial was “Cause Number 16092, State versus John Anthony Adams.” The trial court announced that “[Adams] has been appointed an attorney by the court as shadow counsel. He does not wish to have counsel.” Adams interrupted, “That’s not true ... I told them that I was going to have my own counsel.... ” Adams again invited the trial court to hold him in contempt, stating, “[T]his is a charade.” The trial court attempted to explain to the venire that Novy had been appointed “simply as shadow counsel” and that Novy was present in the courtroom “in case Mr. Adams decides he has questions or if he wants assistance.” Adams again inter[807]*807rupted, announcing, “I want to hire my own attorney.” A short time later, Adams interjected, “[L]et me hire my own attorney.” As the trial court explained the voir-dire procedure to the venire panel, Adams continued to interrupt and argue. The trial court informed the venire that two different attorneys had represented Adams prior to the appointment of Novy and that the case had been pending a long time. Adams once again asked to be held in contempt of court and removed from the courtroom, saying, “This is a kangaroo [court].” At that point, the trial court had Adams removed from the courtroom. A jury was then selected by the State with Adams out of the courtroom and with no participation from shadow counsel. The next morning, the trial court announced to the jury panel that Adams “refuse[d] to come over” from the jail. The trial proceeded without Adams and with Novy sitting silently in his role as shadow counsel.

II. Denial of Counsel

Adams was not represented by counsel at trial. Prior to the start of trial, the trial court changed appointed counsel’s status from that of counsel to that of shadow counsel, which placed him in the position of only assisting Adams in his self-representation. Adams was never in the courtroom during the trial, did not actually represent himself, and was never in a position to seek assistance from his shadow counsel. The defense did not conduct voir-dire examination, strike the jury list,3 make an opening statement, cross-examine the State’s witnesses, present evidence, object to any evidence presented, preserve any issues for appellate review, participate in the charge conference, or present a final jury argument.

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John Anthony Adams v. State, 418 S.W.3d 803, 2013 WL 6516398, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 15054 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

418 S.W.3d 803 (John Anthony Adams v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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