Luis Munoz v. the State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: June 27, 2023
• Docket: 07-23-00088-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The Court of Appeals Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo

No. 07-23-00088-CR

LUIS MUNOZ, APPELLANT

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE

On Appeal from the 140th District Court Lubbock County, Texas Trial Court No. 2020-421042, Honorable Douglas H. Freitag, Presiding

June 27, 2023 ORDER OF ABATEMENT AND REMAND Before QUINN, C.J., and PARKER and DOSS, JJ.

Appellant, Luis Munoz, appeals his conviction for aggravated robbery1 and

sentence to ninety-nine years’ confinement. Now pending before the Court is the motion

of Appellant’s appointed counsel, Jennifer Ann Zarka, seeking to withdraw and requesting

permission to substitute Christopher M. Perri as counsel. Because the trial court is

responsible for appointing counsel to represent indigent defendants in criminal cases, as

1 See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 29.03. well as relieving or replacing 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).

Upon remand, the trial court shall determine (1) whether Appellant still desires to

prosecute the appeal; (2) whether Appellant has retained counsel to represent him in this

appeal; (3) if so, whether Appellant remains indigent and entitled to appointed counsel;

and (4) whether to dismiss appointed counsel. The trial court may also enter such orders

necessary to address the aforementioned questions. The trial court’s findings and any

orders issued shall be included in a supplemental clerk’s record to be filed with this Court

by July 27, 2023.

All other appellate deadlines, including Appellant’s pending briefing deadline, are

suspended until further order of this Court.

It is so ordered.

Per Curiam