Court Opinion

ID: 9770709
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 16:19:46.671885+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:20.005814
License: Public Domain

DALLY,
Judge, dissenting.
The majority’s grave concern, anxiety, and solicitude for what it says was the denial of appellant’s constitutional right to counsel on the hearing of his motion for new trial, it appears to me, is a red herring. Without being granted rule-making power, the majority on its own muscle is now promulgating historically unprecedented new rules of criminal procedure granting the State the right to a motion for new trial. This is without regard for long-established practice and is contrary to the spirit of Chapter 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. It is clear the appellant’s counsel intended to and did abandon the motion for new trial so that it would be overruled by operation of law. This is often done, and appellant’s counsel had a perfect right to abandon that motion. In my opinion, appellant’s counsel should continue to urge that the motion for new trial was abandoned so that he will not be considered ineffective in the representation of his client.
Since the majority of this Court has already found that this record presents reversible error, it is absurd to think the appellant wants his motion for new trial heard for that error to be cured. What need is there for the appellant to have his motion for new trial heard?
The majority is permitting the State to adopt the appellant’s abandoned motion for a new trial and force a hearing of that abandoned motion; the result is that the majority is granting the State a motion for new trial. I see no distinction between this and allowing the State to file its own motion for new trial. This appeal should be decided on the record now before this Court, and let the chips fall where they may. I vigorously dissent to the amendment of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the promulgation of these new rules of criminal procedure granting the State a motion for new trial.
ROBERTS, J., joins this dissent.