Opinion
WR-93 425-01
01-26-2022
EX PARTE WILLIAM ELLIOTT CURRY IV, Applicant
Do not publish
ON APPLICATION FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS CAUSE NO. CR18-182 IN THE 4TH DISTRICT COURT FROM RUSK COUNTY
ORDER
PER CURIAM.
Applicant pled guilty to continuous sexual abuse of a child without an agreed punishment recommendation from the State. The trial court assessed a fifty-year prison sentence. The Sixth Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence. Curry v. State, No. 06-19-00107-CR (Tex. App.-Texarkana del. Jan. 24, 2020). Applicant, through habeas counsel, filed this application for a writ of habeas corpus in the county of conviction, and the district clerk forwarded it to this Court. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 11.07.
Applicant contends that his plea was involuntary because trial counsel: failed to investigate to discover that "most" of the State's evidence was inadmissible at trial; failed to file a motion to suppress and object to State's inadmissible evidence; and failed to advise Applicant of the ramifications of his guilty plea. Applicant contends that trial counsel provided ineffective assistance at the contested punishment hearing: for failing to object to the prosecution's "inherently prejudicial line of questioning"; and for failing to present mitigating evidence of Applicant's "past sexual abuse and untreated mental health issues." Applicant contends that trial counsel's representation "as a whole deprived [Applicant] of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel."
Applicant has alleged facts that, if true, might entitle him to relief. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). Accordingly, the record should be developed. The trial court is the appropriate forum for findings of fact. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 11.07, § 3(d). The trial court shall order trial counsel to respond to Applicant's claims. In developing the record, the trial court may use any means set out in Article 11.07, § 3(d).
The trial court shall make findings of fact and conclusions of law as to whether Applicant's guilty plea was involuntary, whether Applicant was deprived effective assistance of counsel at the contested punishment hearing, and whether counsel's representation as a whole acted to deny Applicant the effective assistance of counsel. The trial court may make any other findings and conclusions that it deems appropriate.
The trial court shall make findings of fact and conclusions of law within ninety days from the date of this order. The district clerk shall then immediately forward to this Court the trial court's findings and conclusions and the record developed on remand, including, among other things, affidavits, motions, objections, proposed findings and conclusions, orders, and transcripts from hearings and depositions. See Tex. R. App. P. 73.4(b)(4). Any extensions of time must be requested by the trial court and obtained from this Court.