NUMBER 13-15-00054-CR
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG
____________________________________________________________
RUSSELL WAYNE MCSLAND, Appellant,
v.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.
____________________________________________________________
On appeal from the 24th District Court
of Jackson County, Texas.
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ORDER ABATING APPEAL
Before Justices Garza, Benavides, and Longoria
Order Per Curiam
This cause is before the Court on appellant’s motion to proceed pro se.
Appellant’s court-appointed counsel filed a brief on July 16, 2015. Appellant states that
he wants to represent himself in this appeal.
The Court, having considered appellant's pro se motion and the appellant's
apparent desire to proceed on appeal without the benefit of counsel, is of the opinion that
the appeal should be abated in accordance with Hubbard v. State, 739 S.W.2d 341 (Tex.
Crim. App. 1987). The trial court is ordered to immediately conduct a hearing to
determine if appellant desires to proceed pro se. The trial court is required to make the
appellant aware of the dangers and disadvantages of self-representation and to develop
evidence as to whether appellant's apparent decision to relinquish the obvious benefits
associated with having appointed appellate counsel and to proceed pro se is knowingly
and intelligently made.
The trial court is further ordered to make appropriate findings and
recommendations and forward a transcription of the hearing to this Court within fifteen
days from the date of this order. If the trial court finds that appellant knowingly and
intelligently waives his right to counsel in compliance with TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art.
1.051(g), then the trial court shall make a copy of the clerk’s record and reporter’s record
available to appellant so that he can file his brief. Appellant’s brief shall be filed thirty
days from the date he receives the record.
Appellant’s motion to proceed pro se is CARRIED WITH THE CASE pending
receipt and review of the trial court’s findings and conclusions on remand. The appeal
is ordered ABATED.
PER CURIAM
Do not publish.
TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).
Delivered and filed the
29th day of September, 2015.
2
Russell Wayne McSland v. State
Combined Opinion