Court Opinion

ID: 9682044
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 08:04:16.708975+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:37.185057
License: Public Domain

ON APPELLANT’S MOTION FOR REHEARING
WOODLEY, Presiding Judge.
The appellant urges that we were in error in holding that his claim of fundamental error in deprivation of counsel was not before us for review. We do not agree.
It is true that a denial of due process may be raised and urged by collateral attack after final conviction, as was done in Alcorta v. State of Texas, 355 U.S. 28, 78 S.Ct. 103, 2 L.Ed.2d 9. This does not alter the fact that appeals from convictions are to be decided upon the record from the trial court under the procedure provided by the statutes of this state.
In addition to the statutes referred to in our original opinion, we direct attention to Arts. 753 and 754 Vernon’s Ann.C.C.P., which read in part:
“New trials, in cases of felony, shall be granted for the following causes, and for no other:
“1. Where the defendant has been tried in his absence, or has been denied counsel.” (Art 753)
“New trials in misdemeanor cases may be granted for any cause specified in the preceding article, except that contained in subdivision one of said article.” (Art. 754)
Under these statutes the trial court did not err in overruling the motion for new trial based upon lack of counsel, this being a misdemeanor case.
In the light of the serious contention that lack of counsel to represent an indigent defendant in a misdemeanor case is a denial of a fundamental right under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution which may be raised after conviction, we will discuss the appellant’s claim of denial of due process.
The appellant, on motion for new trial, testified that he had been on bond for three months preceding the date of trial; that his mother was his bondsman; that he never called an attorney while on bond, made no request to the trial court to appoint counsel, and did not inform the trial court that he was unable to employ counsel. In addition, the record reveals that appellant was represented by counsel of his own choice on his motion for new trial and on appeal in the case at bar.
*448The appellant urges that the recent case of Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S.Ct. 792, 9 L.Ed.2d 799, is applicable to the instant case. We do not construe such case to embrace the misdemeanor case at bar. This is especially so in view of the foregoing facts and circumstances. Such being the case, no denial of a constitutional right to counsel is shown.
Appellant’s motion for rehearing is overruled.