Opinion
13-21-00282-CR
10-04-2022
FIDENCIO CASTILLO COSME, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.
Do not publish. Tex.R.App.P. 47.2(b).
On appeal from the 370th District Court of Hidalgo County, Texas.
Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Benavides and Tijerina
ORDER OF ABATEMENT
PER CURIAM
This cause is before the Court on appellate counsel's Anders brief and motion to withdraw as counsel stating that review of the record has yielded no grounds of error upon which an appeal can be predicated. See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 744 (1967). When appellate counsel files an Anders brief and the appellant independently files a pro se response, the court of appeals has two choices:
[i]t may determine that the appeal is wholly frivolous and issue an opinion explaining that it has reviewed the record and finds no reversible error. Or, it may determine that arguable grounds for appeal exist and remand the cause to the trial court so that new counsel may be appointed to brief the issues.Bledsoe v. State, 178 S.W.3d 824, 826-27 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005) (internal citations omitted). We are "not required to review the merits of each claim raised in an Anders brief or a pro se response." Id. at 827. Rather, we must merely determine if there are any arguable grounds for appeal. Id. If we determine there are such arguable grounds, we must remand for appointment of new counsel. Id. Reviewing the merits raised in a pro se response would deprive an appellant of the meaningful assistance of counsel. Id.
After our review of the record, counsel's Anders brief, and appellant's pro se response, we conclude that there is at least one arguable issue in this case. Anders, 386 U.S. at 744; Bledsoe, 178 S.W.3d at 826-27. For instance, in appellant's pro se response, he questions the effectiveness of his counsel and directs the Court to portions of the record that concern the trial court's rulings on certain items of evidence. We stress that this is not an exhaustive list of arguable issues that could be raised on appeal, and we note further that we have not determined that there is merit in this argument.
We grant counsel's motion to withdraw, previously carried with the case. We abate the appeal and remand the case to the trial court to appoint a new appellate attorney. See In re Schulman, 252 S.W.3d 403, 409 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008). We direct the trial court to file a supplemental clerk's record with the clerk of this court containing the order appointing new counsel within twenty (20) days of this order. The order shall contain the name, address, email address, phone number, and state bar number of the newly appointed counsel. The appeal will be reinstated upon receipt of the supplemental record. Appellant's brief on the merits will be due thirty (30) days after the supplemental record is filed.