Jones v. State

I fully agree with the discussion of the law in the court’s opinion and conclude that I am obligated to concur in the outcome. The outcome, however, seems unfortunate for two reasons.

First, as the court’s opinion discloses, Mr. Jones engaged in a self-help solution to his disagreement about the adequacy of his attorney; he left in mid-trial. He did not attend his sentencing hearing more than a month later. The trial court docket indicates that he was not arrested on the bench warrant until August 2008. It seems highly unlikely that he authorized his lawyer to file this appeal in July.…