Opinion
14-21-00718-CR
03-17-2022
JOSEPH RANDALL HOLCOMB, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 174th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 1281755
Panel Consists of Justices Wise, Poissant and Wilson.
ABATEMENT ORDER
PER CURIAM
Appellant is represented by appointed counsel on appeal, Stephen Aslett. On March 8, 2022, counsel filed a motion to withdraw as appellate counsel because appellant no longer wants counsel to represent him on appeal. According to counsel, appellant prefers to proceed pro se. Accordingly, we enter the following order.
Criminal appellants are not entitled, either by the state or federal constitution, to self-representation on direct appeal. We review requests to proceed pro se on a case-by-case basis considering the best interests of both the criminal appellant and the state. See Hadnot v. State, 14 S.W.3d 348, 350 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2000, no pet.). Appellant has not filed a request in this court to proceed pro se.
We ORDER the judge of the 174th District Court to consider counsel's request to withdraw. If current counsel is permitted to withdraw, the judge shall appoint new appellate counsel for appellant. The judge shall order the trial clerk to forward a record of the supplemental clerk's record containing any orders permitting counsel to withdraw and appointing new counsel to the clerk of this court. The judge shall see that a record of any hearing is made and shall order the reporter to forward a record of the hearing, if any, to the clerk of this court. The supplemental clerk's record and reporter's record, if any, shall be filed within 30 days of the date of this order.
The appeal is abated, treated as a closed case, and removed from this court's active docket. The appeal will be reinstated on this court's active docket when the trial court's findings and recommendations are filed in this court.
Accordingly, appellant's motion to extend time to file a brief is denied as moot.