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No. 04-15-00245-CR

IN THE 

FOURTH COURT OF APPEALS

OF TEXAS

AT SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

JULIO ALEJANDRO ZUNIGA 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, JULIO ALEJANDRO ZUNIGA, 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 

ACCEPTED

04-15-00245-CR

FOURTH COURT OF APPEALS

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

10/2/2015 10:18:49 AM

KEITH HOTTLE

CLERK

 FILED IN 4th COURT OF APPEALS SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 10/02/15 10:18:49 AM KEITH E. HOTTLE Clerk
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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 
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Court’s website. Despite being listed as lead counsel, someone else, presumably 

Chief Public Defender Michael Young, filed a motion for an extension of time to file 

the appellant’s brief. That motion was granted by this Court.

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 November 20, 2015.

(2) The appellant’s last known address is: Julio Alejandro Zuniga, #01961551, 

Telford Unit, 3899 HWY 98, New Boston, TX 75570.

(3) A copy of this motion was mailed to the Appellant via Certified Mail, Return

Receipt Requested, Article No. 7010 1870 0003 3825 1383

(4) The Appellant was informed that he could object to this motion, and also 

informed that the undersigned attorney no longer works for the Bexar County 
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Public Defender’s Office.

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
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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 805.

/s/ Richard B. Dulany, Jr.

___________________________________

RICHARD B. DULANY, JR.