Second Court of Appeals

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of January 9, 2017.

NOTE: Summaries are prepared by the court's staff attorneys and law clerks for public information only and reflect his or her interpretation alone of the facts and legal issues. The summaries are not part of the court's opinion in the case and should not be cited to, quoted, or relied upon as the opinion of the court.

Links to full text of opinions (PDF version) can be accessed by clicking the cause number.

Lathem v. State, No. 02-15-00228-CR (Jan. 12, 2017) (FitzGerald (Senior Justice, Retired, Sitting by Assignment), joined by Livingston, C.J., and Walker, J.).

Held:  The trial court abused its discretion by denying Appellant’s timely, clear, and unequivocal request to represent herself.  This error is structural error requiring automatic reversal.