What Can Po' Folk Do about Court Costs and Record Costs on Appeal in Texas State Courts?

Here I'm talking about appeals, not applications for extraordinary writs. Court costs here are filing fees (Some other things are counted by trial courts as court costs, but they generally don't affect the ordinary appeals of poor people.). An appeal is generally decided on the basis of a clerk's record and a reporter's (or recorder's) record. A clerk's record used to be called a transcript in Texas practice and a reporter's record, a statement of facts; you might still hear these terms today, and it helps to know these terms when you're reading old law. A court clerk's job is to keep track of the documents filed, orders entered, and docket entries made in the trial court (These days, they're practically always e-documents.), and, when asked and when paid the fees allowed by law, to prepare an electronic record of them for the use of the parties and the appellate court on appeal. The reporter (practically always using machine shorthand) or recorder (practically always using a special audio recorder) practically always takes down jury selection, opening statements, witness testimony and trial arguments for a record for the appeals court and is also the steward of the trial exhibits.
Indigents, that is, people who cannot afford to pay costs, can ask to be excused from filing fees in trial court and if the trial court agrees that a person was and is indigent at the time rendering civil judgment, those fees will be excused, and if they were excused at trial, unless there is some evidence that the poor person's status has changed, they will be excused from filing fees on appeal. In criminal cases, a defendant can be found indigent at the beginning of the trial proceedings, and, in the absence of new evidence, that finding will hold even through appellate proceedings. Criminal defendants and sexually-violent-predator respondents who are indigent have a right to be represented by lawyers and to get the clerk's record and the reporter's or recorder's record at no expense to them at trial and on initial appeal. Indigent people who may lose their parental rights have a right to appointed counsel and reporter's record on initial appeal.
There are generally not statutes nor rules for appellate indigency record relief for other kinds of prospective appellants in Texas state courts.

Former Longtime Midland City Attorney Keith Stretcher Appointed to Eastland 11th Court of Appeals

Governor Greg Abbott appointed former longtime Midland City Attorney Keith Stretcher to Eastland Texas's Eleventh Court of Appeals yesterday, filling the vacancy created when the governor elevated Justice John M. Bailey to Chief Justice last September.

Stretcher likely got visibility in Austin by having been a President of the Texas City Attorneys Association.

Bailey was the Chief-Justice-designate after getting the Republican nomination last March-- no one ran against him-- and thereby becoming the last candidate standing for the post. Bailey replaced retiring Chief Justice Jim Wright.

Stretcher joins the Eagle-Scout, former-collegiate-gymnast, decorated-military-veteran, award-winning scholar Associate Justice Mike Willson as the second Midlander on the three-justice court. The Eleventh Supreme Judicial District covers 28 counties. On the map above it is the beige one directly under the panhandle. The Eleventh Court of Appeals sits in the tiny town of Eastland in tiny Eastland County very close to the east end of the SJD. Eastland is a remote exurb of Abilene, which is the county seat of Taylor County, the third-largest county of the SJD. The largest county of the SJD is Ector County which is in the southwestern corner, county seat: Odessa. The second-largest is Midland County, county seat: Midland. These two counties, along with Martin County, form the Midland-Odessa metropolitan area, which has the damnably cute slogan "Two Cities, no Limits," and which is in turn where the Permian Basin geological formation is. Midland-Odessa is where the votes are, so it is from where most of the justices come. Chief Justice Bailey lives in Cisco, near Eastland.

Still, why Midland instead of Odessa? The reason likely goes back to when the oil was discovered. The Ector County Commissioners built roads to the oilfields, which made it a more convenient place for roughnecks-- that's the name of a kind of worker-- while Midland had an office building and a hotel. To this day, Midland is comparatively more white-collar than Odessa.

Appeal from metro Abilene or metro Midland-Odessa or the deserts in between and you'll be before three old white Republican guys . . .

Habeas Corpus in Federal District Court

What do you have to do to get to apply for a writ of habeas corpus in a federal district court for a wrongful conviction? I'm going to be outlining the answer here instead of going into precise detail because a detailed answer would turn this blog post into a law review article or even a book. The answer is different depending on whether or not the wrongful conviction that you are seeking relief from is a state or federal conviction. If it is a federal conviction, you must exhaust your rights to appeal, and apply for your writ before a year of time has passed consisting of all the days that the conviction was final. This one-year period comes from the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. If it is a state court wrongful conviction you have to exhaust your state appeals, if any, and your state applications for a writ of habeas corpus, again before there have been 365 days of judgment-finality. The 28th volume of the United States Code chapter 153 has the federal habeas corpus statutes, and there are, additionally, special rules for these proceedings, which can be downloaded here.
As compared to the vast majority of state courts, federal courts are preferable for applicants because federal judges serve for life on good behavior and have other protections for their independence, where state court judges by virtue of their limited terms are creatures of politics. In many places, including Texas, they must seek their benches as partisan political candidates. It is far more common for a judge to lose a bench by being too even-handed between the State and the defense than to lose their benches by being too hard on crime-- making them favorable to the prosecution. A federal judge who angers the electorate keeps the bench and the pay for life.

Asking a Question Does Not Make You Agree to an Adverse Answer.

Texas Supreme Court Justice Phil Johnson

Mr. Ali wants to buy a business from Mr. Musallam. They negotiate and they make an appointment to finish the deal. When the time comes Musallam does not want to sell. Ali sues. Musallam says that he owes nothing because they had not finished reaching an agreement. The case is tried to a jury. Musallam requests a charge question as to whether or not the two men had a deal. The jury finds for Ali. After the verdict, Musallam makes two complaints to the trial court:

1. that the jury finding was immaterial, and
2. that the jury finding was supported by insufficient evidence.

Immaterial, what does that mean? It means that there are many reasons that one person might be legally bound to owe money to another person. The money might be owed for some other reason than that there was a breach of contract-- detrimental reliance for one.

In Fort Worth's State Court of Appeals, Justice Lee Gabriel wrote an opinion for a panel including now former Chief Justice Terri Livingston and Justice Mark T. Pittman, denying Musallam relief because he could not complain that a jury question that he asked for was not material and for which there was insufficient evidence. Musallam petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to review the case. They agreed, and Supreme Court Justice Phil Johnson wrote for a unanimous SCOTX that Musallam had not waived his alleged error and that the case should be remanded to Fort Worth to be considered on the merits. The Supremes said that if someone seeks a jury question, it does not follow that one is agreeing to be bound by any answer that may be made to that question and that one is not vouching for the sufficiency of the evidence in favor of an adverse ruling.

Texas Supreme Court Justices are not created equal, but Phil Johnson, whose resignation took effect yesterday appeared to me to be one of the good ones. He appeared to call balls and strikes and not to have any dark nor ignorant agenda. I include video from his last oral argument, which choked me up. So long, Justice Johnson. Thank you for all your public service.

https://pbvideo.vids.io/videos/d49ddebc1710ecc15c/justice-phil-johnson-retires-from-the-supreme-court-of-texas

A Program Note- I'm Sorry

I got divorced a week ago Monday. I have had to move my office from one place in Conroe to another. I am in the process of selling and moving out of my house, and I still have a liberal amount of hard deadline paperwork to get finished before the end of the year. I have not been able to give this blog the attention it deserves, and will likely not yet be up to speed on my ordinary practices until early next year.

Come On in, the Water's Fine

I welcome my friends at Orgain Bell and Tucker LLP to the Texas Ninth Court of Appeals part of the blogosphere with their new blog, Navigating the Ninth, which I have put on our Link List, and wish them luck in helping to keep people informed about an important and neglected part of the Texas court system. The Ninth Court of Appeals covers ten counties:

• Hardin
• Jasper
• Jefferson- county seat Beaumont, where the Ninth Court of Appeals has its offices, courtrooms, and chambers- Jefferson is the second largest county in the Supreme Judicial District and is the primary home of Orgain Bell and Tucker LLP.
• Liberty
• Montgomery- county seat Conroe, the largest county in the Supreme Judicial District where I live and practice
• Newton
• Orange
• Polk
• San Jacinto
• Tyler

Our Montgomery County out here continues to be one of the fastest growing parts of the U.S. and Jefferson County, the main location for Orgain Bell and Tucker, is an absolutely key area for the petrochemical industry and for maritime trade.

It's a Real Choice for the GOP Nomination for Presiding Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals

 

Justice David L. Bridges of Dallas's Fifth State Court of Appeals is running to be Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court.  He got his high school diploma from Rains High School, served two years in the Army, worked his way through college assembling air conditioners for General Electric, and after that, worked as a landman. He graduated law school at Texas Tech, was allowed to practice his third year of law school.helping indigent families and migrant workers with family law issues. He worked for the Palo Duro Legal Aid through the Presbyterian Church in West Texas, then the Smith County District Attorney's Office first trying misdemeanors, then felonies. After two years, he went to work in Upshur County for the District Attorney and was First Assistant. He became a senior trial attorney for the State Bar of Texas. In 1990, he was named Regional Counsel for the State Bar and was responsible for Dallas County and forty-four other counties. I went back to Austin and was named First Assistant and Chief of Litigation and handled all the attorney discipline cases in Texas. After a short time of being in private practice, he has spent the last 22 years as a Justice on Dallas's Fifth Court of Appeals.  He is running against incumbent Presiding Judge Sharon Keller and urges voters to Google Sharon Keller ethics.