Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Huggins v. State

No. PD-0590-21                      9/6/23

Issue:

Is the statutory right to withdraw a waiver of counsel absolute?

Holding:

No. The right under Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 1.051(h) is temporal and not absolute. The Court also concluded that the defendant did not have the right to repeatedly alternate his position on whether to have counsel or proceed pro se in order to delay trial, and that additional admonishments from the judge about the dangers and disadvantages of self-representation were not necessary, because the judge had previously admonished the defendant. Read opinion.

Dissent (Yeary, J.):

Under Art. 1.051, a “defendant ‘may’ withdraw his waiver of counsel ‘at any time,’ and therefore obtain prospective assistance of counsel from that point on, without regard to the circumstances attending his withdrawal. As far as I am concerned, if the Legislature meant for the statute to operate otherwise, it could have said so expressly.” Read dissent.

Commentary:

In reaching its decision regarding Article 1.051(h), the majority explains that the phrase in the statute “at any time” is not the equivalent to, and does not mean “under any circumstances[,]” and points to other statutes where the Legislature has deliberately used those phrases to mean certain, but different things. The majority also instructs that its interpretation of Article 1.051(h) in this manner—as opposed to the universal-withdrawal interpretation that the appellant and the dissent advocate—was necessary to prevent defendants from using their “right to counsel to manipulate the court[,]” to obstruct the orderly procedure of the court process, or to interfere with the fair administration of justice. Be mindful, though, that the facts of this case were pretty egregious, in that the appellant clearly, repeatedly vacillated between having attorneys and appearing pro se, and then desired a very last-minute appointment of another lawyer while a venire panel was waiting outside of the courtroom. If you have a case where similar egregious circumstances exist, this case will be helpful to you if your judge is similarly inclined to disallow the defendant to withdraw his written waiver of his right to counsel. If circumstances are not so egregious (or not so well documented in the record), however, you might urge your judge to exercise caution in refusing to permit the defendant to withdraw his waiver of counsel. 

Texas Attorney General Opinions

No. AC-0004               8/29/23

Issue:

What is the responsibility of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to reimburse counties for the transportation of inmates from county jails to state jail facilities, including remedies if reimbursement is not made, or if inmates are not transferred by the statutory deadline?

Conclusion:

TDCJ may not require a county sheriff to transport inmates to a substance abuse felony punishment facility or an intermediate sanction facility, nor may it refuse to reimburse a county for transporting an inmate to a state jail division facility. A county must generally utilize its normal procedures for collecting on a debt owed to the county if TDCJ refuses to reimburse the county for inmate transport.

Pursuant to HB 2620 from the 88th Regular Session [2019], the failure of TDCJ to take custody of an inmate within 45 days as required by law results in statutory compensation to the county by TDCJ for any extended period of detention. Extended periods of detention, however, are not expressly authorized under the law. Read opinion.

TDCAA seeking an Assistant Training Director

The Texas District and County Attorneys Association is seeking an Assistant Training Director. The Assistant Training Director (“ATD”) will be responsible for the creative development and production of TDCAA’s online training. The ATD will work under the supervision and direction of the Training Director. The ATD’s duties will include:

• under the direction of the Training Director and association leadership, developing and expanding the association’s online learning opportunities
• conducting needs assessments to evaluate and determine the online learning needs of prosecutors’ offices
• in conjunction with the Training Committee, developing the content of TDCAA online learning
• planning and producing all association online learning programs
• investigating and developing varied modalities of online learning, including webinars, virtual training, and podcasts
• making initial speaker contacts for all TDCAA online learning offerings or supervising such contacts by other staff or course directors
• directing the preparation of all materials related to online learning initiatives and assisting in developing and editing seminar materials as needed
• supervising the meeting planners who assist in the production, web hosting, and credit reporting of all online learning initiatives
• evaluating the overall effectiveness of association online learning programming
• assisting the Training Director as necessary to produce association live training events

Any applicant must be a licensed attorney in Texas for at least the past three years. Some travel will be required for live training events and production of online trainings. Some remote work is possible, but time will be required at TDCAA headquarters in Austin to accomplish needed tasks. The starting salary is $110,000, plus health care and retirement benefits.

Applicants should send a cover letter and current resume to Rob Kepple at [email protected].