Order entered December 20, 2016

In The

Court of Appeals 

Fifth District of Texas at Dallas 

No. 05-16-01208-CR

ENRIQUE AROCHI, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 401st Judicial District Court

Collin County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 401-80513-2015

ORDER

The Court has before it Steven R. Miears’s December 1, 2016 letter which we shall treat 

as a motion to reconsider his November 14, 2016 motion for emergency relief.

On January 16, 2015, Keith Gore was appointed to serve as lead defense counsel for 

appellant during trial. Mr. Miears was appointed co-defense counsel. After appellant was 

convicted and sentenced, a motion for new trial was filed October 7, 2016, and six days later, 

Mr. Miears filed a notice of appeal and docketing statement in this Court.

On October 31, 2016, the trial court signed an order appointing Pamela Lakatos as 

appellate counsel. By letter dated November 8, 2016, Mr. Miears notified the trial court that he 

had filed appellant’s notice of appeal but had not filed a motion to withdraw as counsel. Mr. 
Miears noted he intended to represent appellant on appeal and asked the trial court to rescind its 

October 31, 2016 order appointing Ms. Lakatos.

Mr. Miears then filed an emergency motion in this Court, asking us to strike the trial 

court’s October 31, 2016 order appointing Ms. Lakatos. We declined to do so, noting that the 

trial court had not yet ruled on his November 8 request. The trial court subsequently denied Mr. 

Miears’s request, noting “Pursuant to the Texas Fair Defense Act, Mr. Miears is not on the 

approved Appeal Court Appointment List.” Mr. Miears then filed a letter, asking this Court to 

reconsider its previous ruling.

In his motion to reconsider the emergency motion, trial counsel asks this Court to “enter 

an Order to immediately confirm and clarify for the Appellant that Mr. Miears continues to 

represent Appellant . . ..” In support, he relies on the “argument, authorities, and rules of 

appellate procedure set forth” in his original emergency motion.

Article 26.04 provides that:

[t]he judges of the county courts, statutory county courts, and district courts trying 

criminal cases in each county, by local rule, shall adopt and publish written countywide 

procedures for timely and fairly appointing counsel for an indigent defendant in the 

county arrested for, charged with, or taking an appeal from a conviction of a 

misdemeanor punishable by confinement or a felony.

TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 26.04(a) (West 2016). Under this rule, each county has a 

public appointment list containing “the names of the qualified attorneys” who have met the 

qualifications and applied to be included on the list. Id. art 26.04(d). Although appellant’s lead 

defense counsel, Mr. Gore, appears on the Collin County Texas Fair Defense Act list of 

participating attorneys list, Mr. Miears does not. Ms. Lakatos is included on the list and is 

approved to be appointed as appellate counsel. Under these circumstances, we cannot conclude 

the trial court erred.
 We DENY Mr. Miears’s motion. The trial court’s October 31, 2016 order appointing 

Pamela Lakatos as appellate counsel remains in effect. 

 

/s/ CAROLYN WRIGHT

CHIEF JUSTICE