Judge Michael McC _ nick - Voice For The Defense Online

On October 27, 1988, Charles M. Mc-Donaldand Bill Dunnam appeared befbrethe Terns Court ofCrimirm1 AppeaCs andparticipated in a proceeding honoring thelate Judge MI: Phillips, who served onthat Court Present wus thestate BarPresident,members of the Court of CriminalAp@s and the Supreme Court, and otherdistinguished guests. Judge Phillips nns amember of TCDLA, andproudly served thegoals offhe defense attorney. He was alsoa respected member of the Court of CrintinalApHeals. His memoriam as delivered,follows:Thank you* Judg? Onion,Martha, Vail,members ofthejudiciary anddistinguishedguests.We are here to honor thememory of ourdear friend, the late Judge W.T. Phillips.When I was asked to speak in hismemory, I was pmud to accept, and it is anhonor I will cherish the remainder of mylife.Irememberafriendly man with asmile,who enjoyed life, his family, and hisfiends. His friends called him W.T. Hisreal close friends called him "T."I remember a lawyer who l i i to flyairplanes. WifeMarthaleamedfirst-"'I"'had to learn so he could tell her how to fly.I remember, for example, in a law matter,a criminal case in Oklahoma in which'T" and1 were involved. The young defen-dant was accused of possession ofmariiuana in the d m lecesses of his suit-In MemoriamW.T. Phillipscase, which was zipped and locked and inthe hack seat of the car. The localpolicemansaid thathesmelledit andit wasin plain sight. Justice was served. 'T' andI got a dismissal premised upon our clientsigning a legal document whereby theyoung defendant agreed to banishmentfrom that small Oklahoma town for fiveyears. I assume that is stdl good law.When asked to be here, my thoughtsreturned to late in the evening of April 6,1976 when two people were. with me in myold 1967 Mooney ahraft on a heading of186 deg. southout of Waco. Intheairplanewith me were my dear fiends, Billy Dunnamand W.T. Phillips. Our destinationthat April evening was Austin, Texas. Wewere on our way with a cashier's eheck ofthe value of some several hundreds of dollarspayable to theDemocraticchairmaninAustin.'T" got signed up that last evening torun for election as a Justice on this Courtof Criminal Appeals which was then composedof five members.The rest of the story . . . with limitedcontributions from old friends and Wacolawyers, W.T. Phillipswas elected as a Justiceon this honorable Court. He servedproudly on this Court until 1981. The fouryears he served on this Court was pmbablythe happiest period in his life-to put itmildly, hklovedhis work, and thehonor ofbeing a judge of this Court.Judge Phillips would want me to putwhat I am now saving as a matter of uer-manent record.What Judge PhiEps did in 1976, withhimbeing andinarylawyerinamediumsizedtown, deciding he wanted to he ajudge on the Supreme Criminal Cwa ofthe stateof Texas, and then running for theposition, and being elected on a limitedbudget, is fast becoming, regrettably, athing of the past.W.T. Phillips did not have any judicialexperience prior to hecoming a member ofthiscourt. However,'"r"' waaalawyer whohad a strong dedication to the principles ofourBill ofRights, andaphilosophy offairnessand compassion.I have read in the past every one of hisopinions written whilehe was on this court.I have found that the opinions of JudgePhillips have never been criticized fordeterring or impairing the fundamentalrights of citizens ofthis country. His judicialachievements could not havehffin surpassedby some judge who was handpicked by some person ar group of individualswho probably would never haveaccepted or acknowledged a lawyer likeW.T. Phillips.Judge Phillips believed that thequalifications for being a judge were setforth in the Constitution. He furtherbelieved that if you had the constitutionaland statutory qualifications, then youshould have the right to seek a judgeship.The voting citizens of this state or countrywould then pass upon the philosophicalaualifications of that candidateto serve.- -JudgePhillips believed in the right of alawyer to put his name on the slate andProbation Revocation Hearings C. Collateral Attack have his right to serve passed on by themnliwedfror?pnge 29The Court of Criminal &peals, in fi voting citizens of the state. JudgePhillipsparte Moffeft, 542 S.W.2d 184, 185 continued to believe in this after the elec-S.W.2d 39,40 (Tex.Crim.App. 1971); and (Tex.Crim.App. 1976), created an excep- tion of 1980, in which he was not success-Ar~nstrong v. Stale, 472 S.W.2d 150, 151 tion tothc~lepnrhihitingccrllatcral attack fill.Crex.Crim.Ano. 19711. on thcsumciencv thecvidellce bvhold- My tiicnd Bill Dunnani will address inA Ling that a collGeral attack of & orderB. Habeas Corpus revoking the defendant's probation is per-To successfully use the writ of habeas missible where the revocation order wascorpus tochallenge theauthority ofthetrial h~ed on no evidence. See also, Ex parkcourt to revoke probation, the probationer Quirke, 710 S.W.2d 582, 585 (Tex.must show that the sentence was void and GritaApp. 1986); cj, Wol@ v. Smre. 560subject to collateral attack for want of S.W2d686,688 (Tex.Crim.App. 1978). 1authority to pronounce it.32 VOICE for fhe Defense I January 1989more detail the importance of some ofJudge Phillips's opinions and his legalphilosophy.Martha and Vail, and persons gatheredhere today, "T" Phillips was a good Judgeand what is more important, a good man.Thank you for permiaing me to be here.