Opinion filed August 15, 2019

 

In The

Eleventh Court of Appeals __________

No. 11-19-00021-CR

__________

MATTHEW JOHN ARMINDARIZ, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 358th District Court

Ector County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. D-45,887

M E M O R A N D U M O P I N I O N

The jury convicted Appellant, Matthew John Armindariz, of the offense of

murder and assessed his punishment at confinement for life. We modify the trial 

court’s judgment to delete a portion of the Time Payment Fee assessed as a court 

cost and, as modified, affirm the trial court’s judgment.

Appellant’s court-appointed counsel has filed in this court a motion to 

withdraw. The motion is supported by a brief in which counsel professionally and 

conscientiously examines the record and applicable law and concludes that there are 
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no arguable issues to present on appeal. Counsel provided Appellant with a copy of 

the brief, a copy of the motion to withdraw, and a copy of both the clerk’s record 

and the reporter’srecord. Counsel advised Appellant of hisright to review the record 

and file a response to counsel’s brief. Counsel also advised Appellant of his right to

file a petition for discretionary review. See TEX. R. APP. P. 68. Court-appointed 

counsel has complied with the requirements of Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 

(1967); Kelly v. State, 436 S.W.3d 313 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014); In re Schulman, 252 

S.W.3d 403 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008); and Stafford v. State, 813 S.W.2d 503 (Tex. 

Crim. App. 1991). 

Appellant subsequently filed a response to counsel’s Anders brief. We have 

reviewed Appellant’s response. In addressing an Anders brief and a pro se response, 

a court of appeals may only determine (1) that the appeal is wholly frivolous and 

issue an opinion explaining that it has reviewed the record and finds no reversible 

error or (2) 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. Schulman, 252 

S.W.3d at 409; Bledsoe v. State, 178 S.W.3d 824, 826–27 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005). 

Following the procedures outlined in Anders and Schulman, we have independently 

reviewed the record, and we agree with counsel that no arguable grounds for appeal 

exist.

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We note, however, that the judgment contains a nonreversible error. In the 

judgment, the trial court ordered Appellant to pay court costs, including a Time 

Payment Fee of $25 pursuant to Section 133.103 of the Texas Local Government 

Code. See TEX. LOC. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 133.103 (West Supp. 2018). We recently 

held that subsections (b) and (d) of that section are facially unconstitutional because 

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We note that Appellant has a right to file a petition for discretionary review pursuant to TEX. R.

APP. P. 68.
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the collected fees are allocated to general revenue and are not sufficiently related to 

the criminal justice system. See King v. State, No. 11-17-00179-CR, 2019 WL 

3023513, at *1, 5–6 (Tex. App.—Eastland July 11, 2019, pet. filed) (mem. op., not 

designated for publication). Accordingly, the trial court erred when it assessed a 

Time Payment Fee under Sections 133.103, subsections (b) and (d) of the Texas 

Local Government Code as a court cost. See id.

When the trial court erroneously includes fees as court costs, we should 

modify the trial court’s judgment to remove the improperly assessed fees. See 

Cates v. State, 402 S.W.3d 250, 252 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013). We, therefore, modify 

the trial court’s judgment to delete $22.50 of the Time Payment Fee assessed as court 

costs, leaving a Time Payment Fee of $2.50. See King, 2019 WL 3023513, at *5–6.

We grant counsel’s motion to withdraw, and we affirm the judgment of the 

trial court as modified. 

PER CURIAM

August 15, 2019

Do not publish. See TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).

Panel consists of: Bailey, C.J.,

Stretcher, J., and Wright, S.C.J.2

Willson, J., not participating.

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Jim R. Wright, Senior Chief Justice (Retired), Court of Appeals, 11th District of Texas at Eastland, 

sitting by assignment.