Ashton Blake Locke v. State

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN
NO. 03-19-00839-CR
Ashton Blake Locke, Appellant
v.
The State of Texas, Appellee
FROM THE 391ST DISTRICT COURT OF TOM GREEN COUNTY
NO. D-19-0054-SA, THE HONORABLE BRAD GOODWIN, JUDGE PRESIDING
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Appellant Ashton Blake Locke has filed a pro se notice of appeal from the district
court’s pretrial order denying his court-appointed counsel’s motion to withdraw. With few
exceptions, this Court does not have jurisdiction to review pretrial orders in criminal cases. See
Apolinar v. State, 820 S.W.2d 792, 794 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991); McKown v. State, 915 S.W.2d
160, 161 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 1996, no pet.). In criminal cases, “[t]he standard for
determining jurisdiction is not whether the appeal is precluded by law, but whether the appeal is
authorized by law.” Abbott v. State, 271 S.W.3d 694, 696–97 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008); see also
Ragston v. State, 424 S.W.3d 49, 52 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014) (“Jurisdiction must be expressly
given to the courts of appeals in a statute.”). No statute authorizes an appeal from an order
denying a request for the dismissal or withdrawal of court-appointed counsel. See Estrada v.
State, No. 01-18-00645-CR, 2018 Tex. App. LEXIS 7287, at *1–2 (Tex. App.—Houston
[1st Dist.] Aug. 31, 2018, no pet.) (per curiam) (mem. op., not designated for publication) (“The
statute authorizing trial courts to appoint counsel for indigent criminal defendants does not
authorize interlocutory appeals of the denial of a defendant’s request to dismiss his appointed
counsel.”); Lopez v. State, No. 04-18-00165-CR, 2018 Tex. App. LEXIS 3250, at *1–2 (Tex.
App.—San Antonio May 9, 2018, no pet.) (per curiam) (mem. op., not designated for
publication) (similarly concluding that appellate court lacked jurisdiction to review trial court’s
denial of defendant’s motion to dismiss court-appointed counsel). Accordingly, we dismiss this
appeal for want of jurisdiction.
__________________________________________
Gisela D. Triana, Justice
Before Chief Justice Rose, Justices Baker and Triana
Dismissed for Want of Jurisdiction
Filed: February 12, 2020
Do Not Publish
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