### TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

NO. 03

- 22

- 00251

- CR

Jose Luis Regalado , Appellant

v. The State of Texas , Appellee

FROM THE 207TH DISTRICT COURT OF COMAL COUNTY NO. CR2020

- 874 , THE HONORABLE R. BRUCE BOYER , JUDGE PRESIDING

M E M O R A N D U M O P I N I O N
A jury convicted appellant Jose Luis Regalado of two counts of indecency with a child by contact

. See Tex. Penal Code 2 1.11 (a)( 1 ). Regalado elected to have punishment

asse ssed by the district court, which sentenced R egalado to 10 years ’ imprisonment and a $2,500 fine for each count, with the prison sentences to be served consecutively

. This appeal follow ed. Regalado ’ s court- appointed counsel on appeal has filed a motion to withdraw and a brief pursuant to Anders v. Californ ia , 386 U.S. 738, 744 (196 7). The brief meets the requirements of Anders by presenting a professional evaluation of the record demonstrating why

t here are no arguable grounds to be advanced. See id . at 744 -45; see also Penson v. Ohio , 488 U.S. 75, 81 –82 (1988); Garner v. State , 300 S.W.3d 763, 766 (Tex. Crim. App. 2009). Counsel has certified to this Court that she has provided R egalado with a copy of the motion and brief, advised him of his right to examine the appellate record and file a pro se respons e , and2 supplied him with a form motion for pro se access to the appellate record. See Kelly v. State , 436 S.W.3d 313, 319

- 20 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014). No pro se brief or other response has been filed. Upon receiving an Anders brief, we must conduct a full e xamination of the record to determine whether the appeal is wholly frivolous. See Penson v. Ohio , 488 U.S. 75, 80 (1988); Bledsoe v. State , 178 S.W.3d 824 , 826

– 27 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005); Stafford v. State , 813 S.W.2d 503, 511 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991). T he record in this case refl ects that Regalado was charged with two counts of touching the genitals of his step

- granddaughter K.M. , who was approximately eigh t years old at the time the offenses occurred. The case proceeded to a jury trial at which several wi t nesses testified, includ ing K.M., who was approximately ten years old at the time of trial. K.M. testified that she would often visit and spend the night at her grandmother ’ s apa rtment , where she would sometimes be alone with Regalado , her grandmother ’ s h usband

. K.M. testified tha t around Thanksgiving 2019, Regalado , wh o K.M. called “ Popo, ” touched her inappropriately three times , one time near and two times on her “ private area , ” which K.M. ide ntified as the part of the body “ for like when you go to the restroom

. ” Each time Regalado touched her in that a rea , K.M. was sitting on the couch in the living room with R e galado, watching television while her grandmother was in the shower , when Regalado “ pulled [ K.M. ] to his lap ” and “ touched [her] private area ” with “ his finger and hand. ” Other witnesses at tri al included Detective Jas on Tucker of the New Braunfels Police Department, who interviewed Regalado following his arrest. During the interview, Regalado denied touching K.M. ’ s vagina but a cknowledged to uch ing her upper thigh on one3 occasion

. The intervie w was recorded, and a copy of the video recording was admitted into evidence and played for the jury.
K.M. ’s mother, C.O. (Mother) , was the State ’s designated outcry witness. Mother testified that aft er Th anksgiving 2019 , K. M. no longer wanted to spend time with Regalado

. Also, K.M. ’s behavior changed, in that she “ went from a sweet, happy, bubbly little girl to just quiet, very, very quiet

. ” K.M. “ hardly came out of her room, ” “ didn ’ t want to eat, ” “ didn ’ t want to sh ower, ” “ didn ’ t want to play outside anymore , ” “ didn ’ t care about her appearance anymore , ” and “ had a lot of anger

. ” Sensing that something was wrong, Mother asked K.M. what had happened , and K.M. eventually told her that “ Popo touched my priv ate area. ” K.M. also provided more details, tell ing Mother : “ We were at Grandma ’ s, and I was sitting on the sofa, and he unbuttoned my pants and put his hand down into my panties and touched my private area. ” Mother asked K.M. how man y times this ha d hap p ened, and K.M. told her it happened three times

. Mothe r i mmediately reported what K.M. had told her to the Ch ildren ’ s Adv o cacy Center. C.R. ( Grandmother ) testified that in 2019, K.M. spent Thanksgiving at her apartment . Grandmother went to take a show er and left K.M sitting on the couch watching a movie. Reg alado was in the kitchen cooking. After Grandmot her finished showering and got dressed , she heard K.M. say, “ Sto p. Leave me alone. ” Grandmother walked out of the room and saw K.M. standing near the front door, and she was visibly upset and angry

. Grand mother a sked her what was wrong , and K.M. told her, “ Nothing. ” Grandmother then asked Regalado, who was now in the living room, “ What happened? What did you do to her? ” Regalado became

“ rea l ang ry ” at Grandmother and yelled , “ Nothing. ” Later that day , the three of them went to Mother ’ s house for Thanksgiving di nner, and K.M. never returned to Grandmother ’ s apartment

.4 The State ’ s final witn ess was Cherri Mettler, a licensed professional c ounsel or who provided counseling services to K .M. Mettler testified regarding the grooming behaviors of sexual abusers and regarding K.M. ’ s feelings and symptoms following the abuse

. The defense called two witnesses, K.M. ’ s father and her father ’ s live

- in girlf riend

. K.M. ’ s father had custody of K.M. the week of Thanksgiving 2019 and dropped K.M. off at Grandmother ’ s house on Thanksgiving Day. He testified that he did not observe any unusual behavio r from K.M. at any time after Thanksgiving , and his girl friend provided similar te stimony. At the conclusion of trial, the jury found Regalado guil ty of tw o counts of indecency with a child by contact as charged . F ollowing a hearing on punishme nt, at which the district court heard testimony from Mother, K.M., K.M. ’ s brother, and Regala do ’ s sister, the district court sentenced Regalado to ten years ’ imprisonment and a $2 , 500 fine for each count as noted above

. We have reviewed the record and counsel ’ s brief. We agree w ith counsel that the appeal is frivolous and with out merit. We find nothing in the record that might arguably support the appeal. We grant counsel ’ s motion to withdraw and affirm the judgment s of conviction.

__________________________________________ Gisela D. Triana , Justice Before Chief Justice Byrne, Justices Triana and Theofanis Affirmed Filed: April 2 7 , 2023
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