Opinion
No. 05-16-00610-CR No. 05-16-00611-CR
05-05-2017
JITENDER SINGH, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 219th Judicial District Court Collin County, Texas
Trial Court Cause Nos. 219-81690-2014 & 219-82997-2014
ORDER
We REINSTATE these appeals.
A review of these appeals show appellant timely filed his notices of appeal on May 26, 2016. Appellant's brief was initially due November 6, 2016. The Court granted several motions to extend time to file the brief and, on April 5, 2017, we granted appellant an extension of four days as requested in his April 3, 2017 motion. We cautioned appellant that if the brief was not filed by 5:00 p.m. on April 7, we would abate these appeals for a hearing. Appellant then filed his April 7, 2017 fifth motion to extend time to file his brief, asking for a forty-five day extension. We denied the motion and ordered the trial court to hold a hearing to determine why appellant's brief had not been filed.
On April 18, the trial court held the hearing; on April 21, the trial court filed its findings and five days later, the reporter's record from the trial court's hearing was filed. After reviewing the record and the trial court's findings, we ADOPT the findings that (1) appellant does desire to prosecute the appeals; (2) appellant is not indigent; (3) retained counsel Bilal Khaleeq has not abandoned the appeals; (4) appellant's brief has not been filed because of the failures of his retained counsel; (5) Mr. Khaleeq's plan was to facilitate communication between appellant's family and a more experienced lawyer; (6) no other lawyer has formally signed on to the cases, and (7) as Mr. Khaleeq is retained, the trial court is unable to appoint new counsel.
The trial court recommended appellant be granted thirty days to file a brief, but if appellant does not file a brief within thirty days, no further extensions be granted. The trial court noted (1) Mr. Khaleeq made representations that he was acting as a "cultural facilitator," however, he has filed a designation of lead counsel and, as such, has professional obligations beyond simply being a "cultural facilitator;" (2) Mr. Khaleeq appears to be subcontracting work to other attorneys who have made no formal appearance before any court and therefore cannot be held accountable for the shortcomings in the cases; and (3) although Mr. Khaleeq has stated "I take full responsibility for this," the trial court "is left with the impression he does not understand the magnitude of the situation."
Finally, a review of the reporter's record of the hearing shows Mr. Khaleeq admitted the following:
This is the - probably the second appeal that I've taken on. And, Your Honor, the understanding was that - just because of the cultural affiliation and the language issues and the family in India not knowing English properly that I was going to get this work done. And - so that was the understanding.
I totally understand that I'm not equipped and designed to, you know, do an appeal such - such as a conviction. But I've actually - with that spirit in mind, that's where, you know, I had - I had gone to engage what I thought was the appropriate skill set to get this thing done.
After reviewing the reporter's record from the April 18 hearing and the trial court's Findings and Recommendations, we ORDER Bilal Khaleeq to (1) either file the appellant's brief in these appeals WITHIN THIRTY DAYS OF THE DATE OF THIS ORDER or (2) if, as the record suggests, Mr. Khaleeq is not competent to handle these appeals, we ORDER Bilal Khaleeq to file, WITHIN FIFTEEN DAYS OF THE DATE OF THIS ORDER, the name, State Bar number, mailing address, telephone number, and email address of another lawyer who is competent to handle these appeals and who has agreed to be associated in the appeals.
Mr. Khaleeq is cautioned that the Court will not entertain any further motions from him for any extensions of time. If Mr. Khaleeq does not associate with a competent attorney and file the necessary information within fifteen days of the date of this order or file a competent brief within thirty days of the date of this order, the Court will initiate contempt proceedings against him for the failure and refusal to obey the Court's order. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.8(b)(4). The Court may also take such other actions as may be appropriate, including filing a grievance against Mr. Bilal Khaleeq and referring this matter to the State Bar of Texas Commission for Lawyer Discipline for further proceedings.
We DIRECT the Clerk of the Court to send a copy of this order to Bilal Khaleeq by certified mail at his address as shown in our records. We also DIRECT the Clerk to send a copy of this order to the Honorable Scott Becker, Presiding Judge, 219th Judicial District Court; to the Collin County District Attorney's Office, and to appellant Jitender Singh, TDCJ #02077950, Hutchins State Jail, 1500 E. Langdon Road, Dallas, TX 75241-7136.
/s/ CAROLYN WRIGHT
CHIEF JUSTICE