A Texas appellate court has halted the appeals process for a man sentenced to 50 years for murder earlier this year.
Brandon Eric Brown, 24, is one of two men found guilty of murder in the 2015 shooting of Christopher Guilbeau in Texarkana, Texas. All defendants without the resources to hire a lawyer are entitled to court appointed counsel on direct appeal of a criminal conviction. Texarkana lawyer Troy Hornsby, who was appointed to represent Brown, filed a 38-page brief with the 6th District Court of Appeals headquartered in Texarkana last month which argues there are multiple grounds for a new trial.
But Brown filed motions complaining that Hornsby's brief is "in conflict with appellant's written instructions by correspondence" and is requesting that he be allowed to represent himself on appeal. Because of Brown's expressed desire to file his own appeal, the higher court abated the appellate proceedings in Brown's case and ordered an inquiry into the matter by the trial court.
The 6th has ordered that 202nd District Judge John Tidwell conduct a hearing to address several issues. First, the higher court wants Tidwell to enter formal findings concerning Brown's status as indigent and unable to retain his own appellate attorney. If found indigent, Tidwell must enter findings on whether Brown still wishes to handle his own appeal and if he does, the judge must warn Brown of the "pitfalls" of self-representation.
If after being admonished by Tidwell as to the perils of proceeding without a licensed attorney Brown continues to prefer to represent himself, the judge must enter formal findings as to whether Brown's decision is "knowing, intelligent and voluntary."
If Brown holds fast to his desire to manage his own appeal, the court must then address whether allowing Brown to do so "is in his best interest, in the state's best interest and in furtherance of the proper administration of justice." The 6th's order abating Brown's appeal notes that Tidwell should also enter additional findings which might prove useful to the higher court in its determination of whether Brown should be allowed to proceed through the appellate process without a lawyer.
If Brown indicates during the hearing that he has changed his mind and does want a lawyer to handle the legal arguments that could get him a second shot at justice, then Hornsby will continue to represent Brown, the order states.
Tidwell scheduled the hearing for later this month.
Brown was sentenced to 50 years in prison following a bench trial in March. The month before, Brown's co-defendant, Marquel Smith, was found guilty of murder by a jury and sentenced to 60 years.
Smith shot Guilbeau three times as they sat in Guilbeau's truck Feb. 23, 2015. Guilbeau had approached a homeless man and offered him a "cut" if the man would help him sell some methamphetamine. The homeless man took Guilbeau to a Texarkana, Texas, duplex where Smith and Brown were visiting Shamari Newton.
After telling the homeless man he would buy Guilbeau's drugs, Smith told Brown he was going to "hit a lick" and asked Brown for his gun. After killing Guilbeau, Brown threatened the homeless man and Newton to keep quiet and he and Brown attempted to hide Guilbeau's body in bushes near the duplex. Brown and Smith were arrested about a week later driving Guilbeau's pickup in Oklahoma. Newton was arrested months later in Tacoma, Wash. She received a six-month jail sentence for failing to report a felony.