CAUSE _____
STATE OF TEXAS	§	THE 182nd DISTRICT COURT
VS	§	OF
Lee Defendant	§	HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS

Motion to Preclude Court from Charging Attorney’s Fees to Indigent Defendants

TO THE HONORABLE JUDGE OF SAID COURT:

COMES NOW the Defendant in the above entitled and numbered cause, by and through his attorney of record, and respectfully moves this Honorable Court to preclude the Defendant from paying attorney’s fees due to his indigent status, and in support thereof would show the Court as follows: 
The Defendant respectfully requests that the Court refrain from ordering the reimbursement, in any amount, of attorney’s fees. The Defendant’s indigent status has already been established by the Court, and the Defendant has not been proven able to afford the fees associated with legal services provided to him. The Defendant submits that a reimbursement order for attorney’s fees denies the Defendant his right to counsel, as guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, and Art. 1.051(c) of the Tex. Code Crim. Proc., as well as his right to due process during sentencing under Art. 1.04 of the  Tex. Code Crim. Proc.
Art. 26.04(p) of the Tex. Code Crim. Proc., entitled “Procedures for Appointing Counsel,” states, in pertinent part, as follows: 
“(p) A defendant who is determined by the court to be indigent is presumed to remain indigent for the remainder of the proceedings in the case unless a material change in the defendant’s financial circumstances occurs.”
Any assertion of a material change in the defendant’s financial circumstances must be supported by “evidence to demonstrate appellant’s financial resources to offset the costs of the legal services.” Mayer v. State, 309 S.W.3d 552 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010); see e.g., Wiley v. State, 410 S.W.3d 313 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013); Molnolskey v. State, No. 14-14-00585-CR, 2015 WL 4774732 (Tex. App. Aug. 13, 2015); Johnson v. State, 405 S.W.3d 350 (Tex. App. 2013). Given that no showing has been made of a “material change” in the Defendant’s financial circumstances, the Defendant submits that a reimbursement order for attorney’s fees violates the right to due process of an indigent defendant. 
Further, without waiving the foregoing requests, the Defendant submits that should this Honorable Court fail to grant his request to abstain from  the Defendant from paying attorney’s fees, that a hearing be held for the Court to make a finding of the Defendant’s financial circumstances, for the purpose of determining the amount the Defendant be ordered to reimburse.
WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, the Defendant respectfully prays that this Honorable Court will grant this, the Defendant’s Motion to Preclude the Court from charging attorney’s fees to the indigent defendant; or in the alternative, that this Court schedule this matter for a hearing on the merits and that at such hearing this Motion will be in all things granted.
Respectfully Submitted, 

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DEFENSE ATTORNEY