Mark John McGee v. State ( 2015 )

ACCEPTED 04-15-00547-CR FOURTH COURT OF APPEALS SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 10/2/2015 11:14:36 AM KEITH HOTTLE CLERK No. 04-15-00547-CR IN THE FILED IN 4th COURT OF APPEALS FOURTH COURT OF APPEALS SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS OF TEXAS 10/02/2015 11:14:36 AM AT SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS KEITH E. HOTTLE Clerk MARK JOHN MCGEE APPELLANT V. THE STATE OF TEXAS APPELLEE MOTION TO WITHDRAW AS COUNSEL TO THE HONORABLE JUSTICES OF THE FOURTH COURT OF APPEALS OF TEXAS: COMES NOW, MARK JOHN MCGEE, 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 for the 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 of Bexar County, Texas, to represent the Appellant in this case. The 1 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 attorney was abruptly fired by Chief Public Defender Michael Young and is no longer employed by the Bexar County Public Defender’s Office. The undersigned attorney offered to continue to represent the Appellant in this 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 attorney was not allowed to access his former work computer or electronic 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 sent to his former Bexar County email address, including any notices or orders relating to this case. In short, the undersigned can do no further work in this case. Within a few hours after being fired, the undersigned attorney met in person with the Honorable Clerk of the Court, Keith Hottle, to explain that he could take no further action in this case despite the pending deadline for filing the Appellant’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 per the 2 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 or similar actions, taken without the undersigned attorney’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 of these facts are within the personal knowledge of the undersigned attorney. II. Required contents of a motion for leave to withdraw: Rule 6.5(a) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure requires the withdrawing attorney to provide the following information: (1) The appellant’s brief is due to be filed on [no date set]. The court reporter’s record is due to be filed on October 26, 2015. (2) The appellant’s last known address is: [Not available to the undersigned. The Appellant is on probation and the undersigned does not have access to the files and records which would have the Appellant’s address.] (3) A copy of this motion was NOT mailed to the Appellant because the undersigned does not know his address. (4) The Appellant was NOT informed that he could object to this motion, and also NOT informed that the undersigned attorney no longer works for the Bexar County Public Defender’s Office. 3 III. The undersigned attorney will accept appointment in this case: If appointed by the trial court, the undersigned attorney will continue to represent the Appellant in this case, but only if the Appellant consents and the 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 relief as is fair and just. Respectfully submitted, RICHARD B. DULANY, JR. Texas Bar No. 06196400 Attorney 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 4 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE AND COMPLIANCE The undersigned does hereby certify that a 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 Attorney’s Office, Appellate Section, 101 W. Nueva St., Suite 710, San Antonio, Texas 78205, on October 2, 2015. The word count is 797. /s/ Richard B. Dulany, Jr. ___________________________________ RICHARD B. DULANY, JR. 5