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Reyes-Gomez v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas, First District, Houston
Dec 3, 2024
No. 01-24-00095-CR (Tex. App. Dec. 3, 2024)

Opinion

01-24-00095-CR

12-03-2024

Daniel A Reyes-Gomez v. The State of Texas


179th District Court of Harris County No. 1738096

ORDER

VERONICA RIVAS-MOLLOY, JUDGE

Appellant Daniel A Reyes-Gomez's court-appointed appellate counsel, Franklin Bynum, filed a combined "Anders Brief and Motion to Withdraw" concluding that the above-referenced appeal is frivolous. See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 744 (1967). In the prayer, Bynum moves to withdraw and requests that Appellant be provided "the opportunity to file a pro se brief." Bynum, however, has not filed a letter in accordance with Kelly v. State, 436 S.W.3d 313 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014) "to (1) notify his client of the motion to withdraw and the accompanying Anders brief, providing him with a copy of each, (2) inform him of his right to file a pro se response and of his right to review the record preparatory to filing that response, [] (3) inform him of his pro se right to seek discretionary review should the court of appeals declare his appeal frivolous," and (4) "notify his client that, should he wish to exercise his right to review the appellate record in preparing to file a response to the Anders brief, he should immediately file a motion for pro se access to the appellate record with the applicable court of appeals," which letter should include "a form motion . . . lacking only the appellant's signature and the date . . . inform[ing] the appellant that, in order to effectuate his right to review the appellate record pro se, should he choose to invoke it, he must sign and date the motion and send it on to the court of appeals within ten days of the date of the letter from appellate counsel." 436 S.W.3d at 319-20.

We thus order Frank Bynum to send a letter and a form motion to Appellant in accordance with Kelly and to notify this Court in writing "that he has (1) informed the appellant of the motion to withdraw and attendant Anders brief, (2) provided the appellant with the requisite copies while notifying him of his various pro se rights, and (3) supplied him with a form motion for pro se access to the appellate record." See id. at 320. Counsel shall send the required letter to Appellant and shall file the required notice with the Clerk of this Court within seven days of the date of this order.

Separately, Bynum's Motion to Withdraw, consisting solely of a prayer to withdraw, does not comply with Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 6.5 (a), (b). The motion does not include the contents enumerated in Rule 6.5(a) or state it was "delivered to the party in person or mailed-both by certified and by first-class mail-to the party at the party's last known address" pursuant to Rule 6.5(b). See Tex. R. App. P. 6.5. We thus deny the Motion to Withdraw. We order Frank Bynum to file an amended motion to withdraw compliant with Rule 6.5 (a), (b) within seven days of this order. See Tex. R. App. P. 6.5 (a), (b); In re Garcia, No. 03-12-00320-CR, 2013 WL 865213, at *1 (Tex. App.-Austin Feb. 28, 2013, order) (not designated for publication) (ordering appellate counsel to file motion to withdraw that complied with Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 6.5).

It is so ORDERED.


Summaries of

Reyes-Gomez v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas, First District, Houston
Dec 3, 2024
No. 01-24-00095-CR (Tex. App. Dec. 3, 2024)
Case details for

Reyes-Gomez v. State

Case Details

Full title:Daniel A Reyes-Gomez v. The State of Texas

Court:Court of Appeals of Texas, First District, Houston

Date published: Dec 3, 2024

Citations

No. 01-24-00095-CR (Tex. App. Dec. 3, 2024)