1 No. 04 -15- 00 245
- 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 A ppellant 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 th e Appellant . In support of this motion , undersigned
counsel respectfully shows the following:
I. The factual basis for this motion :
T he 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 CLERK2 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 ab ruptly 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 Defe nder’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 fo r 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 prov ided the same information by letter the next day

. One week later, the undersigned still listed as lead counsel in this case per the3 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 simila r 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 inform ation: (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 , #0 1961551 , Telford Unit, 3899 HWY 98 , New Boston , TX 7 5570

. (3) A copy of this motion was mailed to the Appellant via Certi fied Mail, Return Receipt Requested, Article No. 701 0 1870 000 3 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 County4 Public Defender’s Office

. III. The undersigned attorney will accept appointment in this case : If appointed by the trial court, t he 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 A ppellant prays that this Court temporarily abat e this appeal and remand this case to the trial court for a hearing on
this motion

. As always, the Appellant also asks this Court t o grant all such relief as is fair and just.

Respectfully submitted, RICHARD B. DULANY, JR. Texas Bar No. 0619 6400 Attorney at Law P.O. Box 782524 San Antonio, T X 782 78 (210) 373

- 2303 (210) 444

- 9070 fax richarddulany@gmail.com
/s/ Richard B. Dulany, Jr.

___________________________________ RICHARD B. DULANY, JR.
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT5 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE AND COMPLIANCE The undersigned does hereby certify that a copy of the above motion was
delivered by electronic service to the Appell ate 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 8 05

. /s/ Richard B. Dulany, Jr.

___________________________________ RICHARD B. DULANY, JR.