Jonathan Walker v. the State of Texas, 04-24-00315-CR

Jonathan Walker pled no contest to nine counts related to sexual offenses involving a child in Bexar County, Texas.
The trial court sentenced Walker to fifteen years imprisonment and assessed $530.00 in court costs for each conviction, totaling $4,770.00.
Walker's attorney requested several continuances; the third was partially denied after the State disclosed new witnesses shortly before trial.
After a short continuance to investigate the new witnesses, Walker changed his plea to no contest, accepting the State's sentencing offer.
On appeal, Walker challenged the multiple assessments of court costs and alleged ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to file a motion for new trial regarding the denied continuance.

Issue	Walker's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Multiple Court Costs Assessed	Court costs should be assessed only once in a single criminal action.	Agreed; concedes error under the law.	Error; court costs should be assessed only once.
Ineffective Assistance (no motion for new trial)	Counsel was ineffective for failing to file a motion for new trial on denied continuance.	Counsel was not ineffective; argument unsupported by authority, and record not developed.	No deficiency shown; strong presumption of reasonableness.

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (establishes two-prong test for ineffective assistance of counsel)
Thompson v. State, 9 S.W.3d 808 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999) (clarifies objective standard of reasonableness for counsel performance)
Lopez v. State, 343 S.W.3d 137 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011) (discusses deference to counsel's professional judgment)
Robertson v. State, 187 S.W.3d 475 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006) (strong presumption of reasonable professional assistance)
Menefield v. State, 363 S.W.3d 591 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012) (record must support ineffective assistance claim)