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Galan v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas, Thirteenth District, Corpus Christi — Edinburg
May 8, 2008
No. 13-06-528-CR (Tex. App. May. 8, 2008)

Opinion

No. 13-06-528-CR

Memorandum Opinion delivered and filed: May 8, 2008. DO NOT PUBLISH. See Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b).

On appeal from the 156th District Court of Live Oak County, Texas.

Before Chief Justice VALDEZ and Justices GARZA, and BENAVIDES. Memorandum Opinion by Justice BENAVIDES.


MEMORANDUM OPINION


On August 25, 2004, appellant, Frankie Galan, Jr. pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine. As part of a plea agreement, he was sentenced to eight years at Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the sentence was suspended for eight years of community supervision. On March 29, 2006, the State of Texas filed a motion to revoke probation for failure to comply with his probation terms. Galan pled true to all eight allegations except for one, a federal drug conviction. After a hearing, the trial court imposed the original sentence of eight years to run concurrent with Galan's federal sentence. Galan's appellate counsel, concluding that "there are no arguable grounds to be advanced on appeal," filed an Ander's brief in which she reviewed the merits, or lack thereof, of the appeal. We affirm.

I. DISCUSSION

A. Compliance with Anders v. California

Galan's counsel filed an Anders brief, in which she concludes there is nothing that merits review on direct appeal. Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 744 (1967). Appellant's brief meets the requirements of Anders. Id. at 744-45; see High v. State, 573 S.W.2d 807, 812 (Tex.Crim.App. [Panel Op.] 1978). In compliance with Anders, counsel presented a professional evaluation of the record and referred this Court to what, in her opinion, are all issues which might arguably support an appeal. See Anders, 386 U.S. at 744; Currie v. State, 516 S.W.2d 684, 684 (Tex.Crim.App. 1974); see also High, 573 S.W.2d at 812. Counsel has informed this Court that she: (1) has diligently read and reviewed the record and the circumstances of appellant's conviction, including the hearing at which Galan entered his plea and the sentencing hearing; (2) believes that there are no arguable grounds to be advanced on appeal; and (3) forwarded to Galan a copy of the brief along with a letter informing Galan of his right to review the record and to file a pro se brief. See Anders, 386 U.S. at 744-45; see also Stafford v. State, 813 S.W.2d 503, 509 (Tex.Crim.App. 1991) (en banc); High, 573 S.W.2d at 813. No pro se brief has been filed by Galan.

B. Independent Review

The United States Supreme Court has advised appellate courts that upon receiving a "frivolous appeal" brief, they must conduct "a full examination of all the proceedings to decide whether the case is wholly frivolous." Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75, 80 (1988); see Ybarra v. State, 93 S.W.3d 922, 926 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 2003, no pet.). Accordingly, we have carefully reviewed the record and have found nothing that would arguably support an appeal. See Bledsoe v. State, 178 S.W.3d 824, 826 (Tex.Crim.App. 2005); Stafford, 813 S.W.2d at 509. We agree with counsel that the appeal is wholly frivolous and without merit. See Bledsoe, 178 S.W.3d at 827-28 ("Due to the nature of Anders briefs, by indicating in the opinion that it considered the issues raised in the briefs and reviewed the record for reversible error but found none, the court of appeals met the requirements of Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 47.1.").

II. CONCLUSION

The judgment of the trial court is affirmed. We order counsel to notify appellant of the disposition of this appeal and the availability of discretionary review. See Ex parte Wilson, 956 S.W.2d 25, 27 (Tex.Crim.App. 1997) (per curiam). Counsel has not requested to withdraw from further representation of Galan on appeal. We further order counsel to file a motion to withdraw as court-appointed counsel with this Court within ten days of the date of this opinion.


Summaries of

Galan v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas, Thirteenth District, Corpus Christi — Edinburg
May 8, 2008
No. 13-06-528-CR (Tex. App. May. 8, 2008)
Case details for

Galan v. State

Case Details

Full title:FRANKIE GALAN, JR., Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

Court:Court of Appeals of Texas, Thirteenth District, Corpus Christi — Edinburg

Date published: May 8, 2008

Citations

No. 13-06-528-CR (Tex. App. May. 8, 2008)