I have said in my office that soon being "ineffective counsel" will be "effective counsel"; in other words, when the defendant is asked what is his defense, his answer will be "My attorney is no good". If you think that will not occur, Ex Parte Medina, WR-75,835-01: "It is a bitter task indeed to reward trial counsel's unprofessionalism by giving her what she has apparently wanted all along: anew punishment hearing for the defendant." When defense counsel says she does not care if she is disbarred and the trial court cannot force her participate, I guarantee that there will be attorneys who will applaud the defense attorney for her trial strategy of vigorously standing up to the trial court, and will say that any attempt to disbar her will create chilling effect for attorneys in their representation. As far as the defendant not knowing her trial strategy, come on, really: If I do what I am to do as "Effective counsel", the defendant gets the death penalty; if I do nothing, the defendant gets to drag the case out further and maybe wear everybody down. Shoot, be "ineffective' again during the second hearing and maybe the State will finally give up. Now which one will a defendant choose for the defense attorney to do?

How about this response by the State: Being "ineffective" was a reasonable legal strategy, and is therefore NOT ineffective at all (circular, but I like it). Essentially, finding that being ineffective IS effective.

I don't hold out a lot of hope for the CCA's referral of the attorney to the Disciplinary Board. While it wasn't a death penalty case, the exact same thing happened in 2008 in Cannon v. State. The attorney was referred to the Disciplinary Board, and not a thing ever happened to him. That attorney actually gave interviews bragging about his conduct in the Texas Lawyer magazine while the case was pending. I'm sure this attorney is quaking in her boots.

Actually that attorney doesn't even practice in Texas anymore. Her bar page lists her address as Iowa and that appears to be where she practices. I doubt she would even show up for the hearing.