Burton v. State
| Decision Date | 09 June 1982 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 62624,No. 3,62625,s. 62624,3 |
| Citation | 634 S.W.2d 692 |
| Parties | James Edward BURTON aka Ronnie Johnson, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Randy Schaffer, court appointed on appeal only, Houston, for appellant.
Carol S. Vance, Dist. Atty. and Calvin A. Hartmann and Kay Burkhalter, Asst. Dist. Attys., Houston, Robert Huttash, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
Before DALLY, W. C. DAVIS and TEAGUE, JJ.
These are appeals from a conviction for burglary of a habitation and a revocation of probation.
A jury found appellant guilty of burglary of a habitation, V.T.C.A. Penal Code, Sec. 30.02, and the court assessed punishment at twenty years confinement in the Texas Department of Corrections. Following the guilty verdict and sentence, the court having heard the evidence presented before the jury found that appellant had violated the terms of his probation, and revoked his probation, assessing punishment at four years confinement in the Texas Department of Corrections. In this consolidated appeal, appellant through counsel on appeal presents a single ground of error: that the trial court erred when it refused to permit the appellant to waive his right to counsel and to represent himself.
Appellant was indicted in the burglary of a habitation on December 18, 1978. At a hearing on pretrial motions, appellant's appointed counsel informed the trial court that at the time of appellant's arraignment before Judge Coker the appellant had expressed his desire to represent himself, and that appellant indicated again the morning of the pretrial hearings that he desired to represent himself.
The trial court then questioned appellant concerning his desire to waive counsel and represent himself:
It is well settled that the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right of an accused to conduct his own defense. Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975). It is thus the defendant's decision whether to accept assistance of counsel or to conduct his own defense, and the Supreme Court in Faretta has mandated that "his choice be honored" when the benefits of the assistance of counsel are understandably relinquished with an informed awareness of danger and disadvantaged of self-representation.
After careful review of the record before us and especially of that conversation between the appellant the trial court set out above, we find that the trial court's denial of appellant's request to conduct his own defense was in error, in light of Faretta.
The facts of this case are similar to those in Faretta. The appellant, like Faretta,...
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Johnson v. State
...and he will not be granted any special consideration solely because he asserted his pro se rights. Martin, supra; Burton v. State, 634 S.W.2d 692 (Tex.Cr.App.1982). As Faretta, supra, held, his eyes should be open to the fact that, while it is undoubtedly his right, he is about to embark on......
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