Court Opinion

ID: 9669329
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:49:53.199741+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:55.451893
License: Public Domain

BAIRD, Judge,
concurring.
In his affidavit responding to this writ application, respondent poses the following question: “who controls the court appointed attorney system in this county — the judges or the indigent defendants and/or their attorneys ...”? Apparently, there is confusion among some of our trial judges as to when their authority to determine who will represent an indigent defendant begins and ends. Respondent’s question deserves our attention and I write separately to answer it and hopefully to provide some guidance to the trial bench.
The right to an attorney, whether at trial or on appeal, is a fundamental right. Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 344, 83 S.Ct. 792, 796-97, 9 L.Ed.2d 799 (1963). Under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, an indigent defendant is entitled to the appointment of counsel. Gideon, supra. However, an indigent defendant does not have the right to the appointment of a particular attorney. Buntion v. Harmon, 827 S.W.2d 945, 949 (Tex.Cr.App.1992). Rather, appointed counsel is selected by the trial judge. Tex.Code Crim.Proe.Ann. art. 26.04(a). And the trial judge is under no duty to search until he finds an attorney which is agreeable to the defendant. Malcom v. State, 628 S.W.2d 790, 791 (Tex.Cr.App.1982) (Panel opinion). When the trial judge appoints an attorney to represent the indigent defendant, the defendant has been accorded the protections provided under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. Ibid.
The attorney-client relationship between appointed counsel and an indigent defendant is no less inviolate than if counsel is retained. Stearnes v. Clinton, 780 S.W.2d 216, 221-222 (Tex.Cr.App.1989); and, Buntion, 827 S.W.2d at 949. Once counsel is appointed, the trial judge is obliged to respect the attorney-client relationship created through the appointment. Ibid. (Citing Stearnes, 780 S.W.2d at 221). And when an attorney-client relationship is established, the trial judge may not arbitrarily remove the attorney over the objections of both the defendant and his counsel. Stearnes, 780 S.W.2d at 221 (citing Harling v. United States, 387 A.2d 1101 (D.C.Cir.1978)); and, Buntion, 827 S.W.2d at 949. There must be some principled reason, apparent from the record, to justify a trial judge’s sua sponte interference with the attorney-client relationship. Ibid.
Consequently, respondent’s question may be answered as follows: The trial judge determines which attorney to appoint and once the appointment is made, the trial judge may not remove that counsel without some principled reason.
With these comments, I join the majority opinion.