Court Opinion

ID: 9410017
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-20 08:09:35.401869+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:55.072838
License: Public Domain

In The
                                   Court of Appeals
                          Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo

                                           No. 07-22-00168-CR

                               BRODERICK WILLIAMS, APPELLANT

                                                      V.

                                 THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE

                              On Appeal from the 121st District Court
                                       Yoakum County, Texas
                     Trial Court No. 3502, Honorable Kelly G. Moore, Presiding

                                               July 14, 2023
                                   MEMORANDUM OPINION
                       Before QUINN, C.J., and DOSS and YARBROUGH, JJ.

       After Appellant, Broderick Williams, was convicted by a jury of cruelty to a livestock

animal and sentenced to a suspended sentence of eighteen months of confinement with

four years community supervision with conditions,1 he brought this appeal. The record

reflects that in April 2019, a witness reported seeing Appellant strike a cow on the hip with

a machete. Appellant acknowledged he had a machete, but denied intending to harm the

       1   See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 42.09(a)(1), (c) (a state jail felony).
cow. The witness testified seeing Appellant unsuccessfully swing the machete at two

other cows before hitting the third.

       Appellant’s counsel filed an Anders brief2 in support of a motion to withdraw. We

grant counsel’s motion and affirm the judgment of the trial court.

       Appellant’s counsel has certified that after diligently searching the record, he has

conducted a conscientious examination of the record and, in his opinion, the record

reflects no reversible error upon which an appeal can be predicated. Anders, 386 U.S.

at 744; In re Schulman, 252 S.W.3d 403, 406 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008). By letter dated

February 17, 2023, Appellant’s counsel provided Appellant with his motion to withdraw, a

copy of his Anders brief, a copy of the appellate record and informed Appellant of his right

to file a pro se response. See Kelly v. State, 436 S.W.3d 313, 319-20 (Tex. Crim. App.

2014) (specifying counsel’s obligations on the filing of a motion to withdraw supported by

an Anders brief). By letter, this Court also advised Appellant of his right to file a pro se

response to counsel’s Anders brief. On March 22, 2023, Appellant filed his pro se

response.

       We have carefully reviewed counsel’s Anders brief and Appellant’s pro se

response. We have also conducted an independent review of the record to determine

whether there are any nonfrivolous issues that were preserved in the trial court which

might support an appeal. Like counsel, we conclude there are no plausible grounds for

appellate review. See Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75, 80, 109 S. Ct. 346, 102 L. Ed. 2d

300 (1988); In re Schulman, 252 S.W.3d at 409; Gainous v. State, 436 S.W.2d 137, 138

       2   See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 744, 87 S. Ct. 1396, 18 L. Ed. 2d 493 (1967).

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(Tex. Crim. App. 1969). Therefore, we grant counsel’s motion to withdraw and affirm the

judgment of the trial court.3

                                                                   Lawrence M. Doss
                                                                       Justice

Do not publish.

        3 Counsel shall, within five days after this opinion is handed down, send Appellant a copy of the

opinion and judgment, along with notification of Appellant’s right to file a pro se petition for discretionary
review. See TEX. R. APP. P. 48.4. This duty is an informational one, not a representational one. It is
ministerial in nature, does not involve legal advice, and exists after this Court grants counsel’s motion to
withdraw. In re Schulman, 252 S.W.3d at 411 n.33.

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