Court Opinion

ID: 9399688
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-06-06 10:07:55.784903+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:19:39.505314
License: Public Domain

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

                           MEMORANDUM OPINION

              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).
               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).

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