Date: 02-15-2017

Case Style:

Case Number: 09-15-00438-CR

Judge: Hollis Horton

Court: In The Court of Appeals Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

Plaintiff's Attorney:

Wayln G. Thompson

Defendant's Attorney:

Mark Thering

Description: Pursuant to a plea agreement, Reyes pled guilty to manslaughter. At the
conclusion of the hearing on his plea, the trial court deferred adjudication and placed
Reyes on community supervision for ten years. Subsequently, the State filed a
motion to revoke, alleging that Reyes had violated three conditions of the trial
court’s community supervision order. Reyes pled “true” to two of the alleged
violations. After conducting a hearing on the State’s motion to revoke, the trial court
found that Reyes violated two of the conditions required of him by the trial court’s
community supervision order. Based on these findings, the trial court found Reyes
guilty and sentenced him to seven years in prison. Subsequently, Reyes filed a timely
notice of appeal.
In connection with Reyes’s appeal, Reyes’s appellate counsel filed a brief
presenting counsel’s professional evaluation of the record. In the brief, Reyes’s
counsel concludes that no arguable errors exist that would support the filing of a
merits-based brief in the appeal. See Anders, 386 U.S. at 744; High v. State, 573
S.W.2d 807 (Tex. Crim. App. 1978). After receiving the Anders brief, we granted
an extension of time to allow Reyes an opportunity to file a pro se response.
However, no response was filed.

After reviewing the appellate record and the Anders brief filed by Reyes’s
counsel, we agree with counsel’s conclusions that an appeal on the current record
would be frivolous. Therefore, we conclude it is not necessary to order that new
counsel be appointed to re-brief the appeal. Cf. Stafford v. State, 813 S.W.2d 503,
511 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991) (requiring the court of appeals to appoint other counsel
only if it determines that there were arguable grounds for the appeal).

Outcome: