TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

NO. 03-22-00308-CR

Edgar Caballero, Appellant

v. 

The State of Texas, Appellee

FROM THE 21ST DISTRICT COURT OF BASTROP COUNTY

NO. 17057, THE HONORABLE CHRISTOPHER DARROW DUGGAN, JUDGE PRESIDING

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

 Following a bench trial, the district court convicted appellant Edgar Caballero of 

the offense of murder and sentenced him to forty years’ imprisonment. See Tex. Penal Code 

§ 19.02. This appeal followed. Caballero’s court-appointed counsel on appeal has filed a motion 

to withdraw and a brief pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 744 (1967). The brief 

meets the requirements of Anders by presenting a professional evaluation of the record 

demonstrating why there 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 he has provided Caballero with a copy of the 

motion and brief, advised him of his right to examine the appellate record and file a pro se 

response, and 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). 
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Caballero has filed a pro se response disputing counsel’s contention that the 

appeal is frivolous. Among other contentions, he claims that the indictment is “vague,” that the 

verdict is “contrary to the State of Texas law,” that one of the State’s witnesses, his ex-wife, was 

biased against him, and that he had “no hate towards the deceased,” who he asserts had a history

of violence.

Upon receiving an Anders brief, we must conduct a full examination of the record 

to determine whether the appeal is wholly frivolous. See Penson, 488 U.S. at 80; 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). The indictment alleged in two paragraphs that on or about 

October 13, 2019, Caballero either (1) intentionally or knowingly caused the death of Angel 

Martinez by striking Martinez with the defendant’s hand or other unknown object or (2) with 

intent to cause serious bodily injury to Martinez, committed an act clearly dangerous to human 

life that caused the death of Martinez, by striking Martinez with the defendant’s hand or other 

unknown object.

During the bench trial, the district court heard evidence that on the night of 

October 13, 2019, Caballero and his ex-wife, Magdalena Caballero, arrived at Magdalena’s

home in Bastrop, where she lived with her children, mother, and stepfather, Angel Martinez. 

Magdalena testified that while she was getting the children ready for bed, Caballero asked her if 

she needed anything from the store before he drove back to his apartment in Waco. Magdalena 

told him that she did not, and Caballero left. Shortly thereafter, Magdalena and her mother

found Martinez on the ground outside their home, covered in blood. Magdalena called 911 and 

then tried to find Caballero, who was “nowhere on the property” and was not answering 

Magdalena’s phone calls.
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One of the paramedics who responded to the 911 call was Kathy Birdwell, who 

testified that when she and her partner arrived at the scene, Martinez “was laying on his back

beside his car covered in blood, not responsive at that time.” His face was “tremendously 

mangled,” his “nose was bloody,” his “tongue was torn,” and his “ear was almost ripped off of 

his head.” Birdwell testified that it appeared to her that Martinez had been hit in the head 

multiple times, possibly with a rock that Birdwell observed on the ground near Martinez that was 

also covered in blood. Martinez was intubated and transported by helicopter to a hospital in 

Austin. Approximately two weeks later, he died from his injuries. The medical examiner 

testified that the cause of death was “blunt head trauma” and that Martinez’s wounds were 

consistent with blows to the face using a fist or some other object. A copy of the medical 

examiner’s report was admitted into evidence.

On the night of the incident, Detective Zachary Koenig and Officer Luke Briscoe 

of the Waco Police Department were dispatched to Caballero’s apartment to interview him. 

During the interview, Caballero admitted hitting Martinez in the face multiple times but claimed 

that Martinez hit him first. Koenig testified that Caballero told him that he and Martinez were

sitting in Caballero’s car, with Caballero in the driver’s seat and Martinez in the front passenger 

seat, when Caballero “made comments” about Martinez’s wife and Martinez responded by 

punching Caballero in the face. Caballero then “proceeded to punch his father-in-law about four 

times.” Koenig added:

He said after about the first two—and he was saying these were good hits—he 

said after the first two hits he believed the father-in-law was probably 

unconscious. And then he said he may have gone overboard by continuing to 

punch him about two more times. So four times total.
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Also during the interview, Caballero walked the officers to his car and “pointed 

out to Officer Briscoe several places where there was blood in the vehicle.” Caballero also 

demonstrated how, after punching Martinez, he “walked around the vehicle and opened up the 

passenger door, where the ex-father-in-law basically fell out on the ground, and he said he was

unresponsive at that point.” Caballero left Martinez on the ground but “told him to go ahead and 

call the police.” Both Briscoe and Koenig testified that during the interview, they did not 

observe any apparent injuries to Caballero, either on his face or elsewhere. A copy of 

Cabellero’s interview with the officers, taken from Briscoe’s body camera, was admitted 

into evidence.

Several days later, Investigators Kevin Little and James Miller of the Bastrop 

County Sheriff’s Department went to Waco to do a follow-up interview with Caballero, again at 

his apartment. Martinez was still alive at the time and Caballero was not yet under arrest. Miller 

testified, “We knocked on the door. We met Mr. Caballero. He invited us in. He invited us to 

have a seat on his couch and then we spoke with him.” During the interview, an audio recording 

of which was admitted into evidence, Caballero again admitted to hitting Martinez multiple times

after Martinez hit him first. Caballero told the officers that Martinez hit him “once” and that he

“retaliated” by hitting Martinez “at least three times.”

At the conclusion of trial, the district court found Caballero guilty of murder and

further found that the State proved that Caballero’s conduct was not justified by self-defense. 

Following a hearing on punishment, during which Caballero and other witnesses for the defense

testified, the district court sentenced Caballero to forty years’ imprisonment as noted above.

We have reviewed the record, counsel’s brief, and the pro se response. We agree 

with counsel that the appeal is frivolous and without merit. We find nothing in the record that 
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might arguably support the appeal. We grant counsel’s motion to withdraw and affirm the 

judgment of conviction.

__________________________________________

Gisela D. Triana, Justice

Before Justices Baker, Triana, and Jones*

Affirmed

Filed: May 31, 2023

Do Not Publish

*Before J. Woodfin Jones, Chief Justice (Retired), Third Court of Appeals, sitting by 

assignment. See Tex. Gov’t Code § 74.003(b).