State v. Hairston

— This criminal defendant challenges *536appellate-court-approved withdrawal of his appellate counsel and assigns error to the Court of Appeals’ refusal to comply with the mandate of Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S. Ct. 1396, 18 L. Ed. 2d 493 (1967) that the court independently review the record before relieving counsel and dismissing an appeal as frivolous. We reverse. Controlling precedent requires the appellate court to independently review the entire record before approving withdrawal of appointed counsel and dismissing an appeal as frivolous.

Petitioner, 16-year-old Aaron Hairston,…