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Richard Lee Weber A/K/A Richard Lee Weber Jr. v. the State of Texas

2026-08-20

Summary

Holding. The trial court's judgment in the attempted aggravated sexual assault case is affirmed as modified to correct the statutory citation, and the trial court's judgment in the indecency with a child case is affirmed.

Richard Lee Weber pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated sexual assault of a child (a second-degree felony) and indecency with a child by exposure (a third-degree felony). The trial court initially deferred adjudication and placed him on community supervision for seven years. After the State filed a motion to revoke, Weber admitted to the allegations, and the trial court revoked his community supervision, adjudicated him guilty, and sentenced him to twenty years for the first offense and ten years for the second offense, with sentences running concurrently.

Weber's court-appointed appellate counsel filed an Anders brief stating no grounds for reversal existed. The appellate court independently reviewed the record and found no arguable errors supporting an appeal. The court modified the judgment in the attempted aggravated sexual assault case to correctly cite the statute governing attempted offenses rather than the underlying offense statute. The court also granted counsel's motion to withdraw.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether grounds for reversal existed in an Anders brief appeal
  • Proper statutory citation for attempted offense convictions
  • Community supervision revocation and sentencing

Procedural posture

This appeal arose from the 148th District Court of Nueces County, Texas, following revocation of community supervision and imposition of prison sentences after the defendant pleaded true to the State's allegations.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

NUMBERS 13-25-00598-CR, 13-25-00599-CR

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG

RICHARD LEE WEBER A/K/A,

RICHARD LEE WEBER JR., Appellant,

v.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.

ON APPEAL FROM THE 148TH DISTRICT COURT

OF NUECES COUNTY, TEXAS

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Chief Justice Tijerina and Justices Silva and Cron

Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Tijerina

In appellate cause number 13-25-00598-CR, appellant Richard Lee Weber a/k/a

Richard Lee Weber Jr. pleaded guilty to the offense of attempted aggravated sexual

assault of a child, a second-degree felony. See TEX. PENAL CODE § 15.01(a). In appellate cause number 13-25-00599-CR, appellant pleaded guilty to indecency with a child by

exposure, a third-degree felony. See id. § 21.11. The trial court deferred adjudication for

both offenses and placed appellant on community supervision for seven years. The State

filed a motion to revoke, and at the hearing, appellant pleaded “true” to the State’s

allegations. The trial court revoked appellant’s community supervision, adjudicated him

guilty of the offenses, and sentenced him to twenty years’ imprisonment for the attempted

aggravated sexual assault of a child offense, and ten years’ imprisonment for the

indecency with a child offense with both sentences to run concurrently. Appellant’s courtappointed counsel has filed an Anders brief stating that there are no arguable grounds

for appeal. See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 744 (1967). We affirm the trial court’s

judgment in cause number 13-25-00598-CR as modified, and we affirm the trial court’s

judgment in cause number 13-25-00599-CR.

I. ANDERS BRIEF

Pursuant to Anders v. California, appellant’s court-appointed appellate counsel

filed a brief and a motion to withdraw with this Court in both causes, stating that her review

of the record yielded no grounds of reversible error upon which an appeal could be

predicated. See id. Counsel’s briefs meet the requirements of Anders as they present a

professional evaluation demonstrating why there are no arguable grounds to advance on

appeal. See In re Schulman, 252 S.W.3d 403, 406 n.9 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008) (orig.

proceeding) (“In Texas, an Anders brief need not specifically advance ‘arguable’ points

of error if counsel finds none, but it must provide record references to the facts and

procedural history and set out pertinent legal authorities.” (citing Hawkins v. State, 112

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S.W.3d 340, 343–44 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi–Edinburg 2003, no pet.))); Stafford v.

State, 813 S.W.2d 503, 510 n.3 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991).

In compliance with High v. State, 573 S.W.2d 807, 813 (Tex. Crim. App. [Panel

Op.] 1978) and Kelly v. State, 436 S.W.3d 313, 319–22 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014),

appellant’s counsel carefully discussed why, under controlling authority, there is no

reversible error in the trial court’s judgments. Appellant’s counsel also informed this Court

in writing that in both causes she: (1) notified appellant that counsel has filed an Anders

brief and a motion to withdraw; (2) provided appellant with copies of both pleadings;

(3) informed appellant of his right to file a pro se response, to review the record prior to

filing that response, and to seek discretionary review if we conclude that the appeal is

frivolous; and (4) provided appellant with a form motion for pro se access to the appellate

record that only requires appellant’s signature and date with instructions to file the motion

within ten days. See Anders, 386 U.S. at 744; Kelly, 436 S.W.3d at 319–20; see also In

re Schulman, 252 S.W.3d at 408–09. Appellant did not file a pro se response in either

cause.

II. INDEPENDENT REVIEW

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

proceedings to determine whether the case is wholly frivolous. Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S.

75, 80 (1988). We have reviewed the record and counsel’s brief in both causes, and we

have found nothing that would arguably support an appeal. See Bledsoe v. State, 178

S.W.3d 824, 827–28 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005) (“Due to the nature of Anders briefs, by

indicating in the opinion that it considered the issues raised in the briefs and reviewed the

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record for reversible error but found none, the court of appeals met the requirements of

Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 47.1.”); Stafford, 813 S.W.2d at 511.

III. MODIFICATION OF TRIAL COURT’S JUDGMENT

“[A]ppellate courts are authorized to reform judgments and affirm as modified in

Anders cases involving non-reversible error.” Mitchell v. State, 653 S.W.3d 295, 297 (Tex.

App.—Texarkana 2022, no pet.) (collecting cases that have modified judgments in Anders

cases). In appellate cause number 13-25-00598-CR, the judgment correctly describes

the offense as attempted aggravated sexual assault of a child but lists the statute for the

offense as “22.021” of the penal code. See TEX. PENAL CODE § 22.021 (listing the

elements for aggravated sexual assault). However, the record shows that appellant was

convicted of attempted aggravated sexual assault of a child rather than the underlying

consummated offense. See id. § 15.01 (listing the elements for an attempted offense). As

a result, the judgment should have listed Texas Penal Code Section 15.01, not

Section 22.021, as the statute for offense. See Parfait v. State, 120 S.W.3d 348, 351

(Tex. Crim. App. 2003) (explaining that a person found guilty of an attempted offense is

convicted under Section 15.01, not the underlying Penal Code provision); see also Torres

v. State, No. 05-22-00314-CR, 2023 WL 4861780, at *4 (Tex. App.—Dallas July 31, 2023,

no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication) (modifying the judgment by removing

“21.11” after the phrase “Statute of Offense” and replacing that with “15.01”). Accordingly,

we modify the judgment to reflect that appellant was convicted under Texas Penal Code

Section 15.01(a) by removing “22.021(a)(2)(B)” after the phrase “Statute for Offense” and

replacing it with “15.01(a).”

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IV. MOTION TO WITHDRAW

In accordance with Anders, appellant’s counsel has asked this Court for

permission to withdraw as counsel in both causes. See Anders, 386 U.S. at 744; see also

In re Schulman, 252 S.W.3d at 408 n.17. We grant counsel’s motions to withdraw. Within

five days from the date of this Court’s opinion, counsel is ordered to send a copy of this

opinion and this Court’s judgments to appellant and to advise him of his right to file a

petition for discretionary review in both causes. 1 See TEX. R. APP. P. 48.4; see also In re

Schulman, 252 S.W.3d at 412 n.35; Ex parte Owens, 206 S.W.3d 670, 673 (Tex. Crim.

App. 2006).

V. CONCLUSION

We affirm the trial court’s judgment in appellate cause number 13-25-00598-CR

as modified. We affirm the trial court’s judgment in appellate cause number 13-25-00599-CR.

JAIME TIJERINA

Chief Justice

Do not publish.

TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).

Delivered and filed on the

20th day of August, 2026.

1 No substitute counsel will be appointed. Should appellant wish to seek further review of this case

by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, he must either retain an attorney to file a petition for discretionary review or file a pro se petition for discretionary review. Any petition for discretionary review must be filed within thirty days from the date of either this opinion or the last timely motion for rehearing or timely motion for en banc reconsideration that was overruled by this Court. See TEX. R. APP. P. 68.2. Any petition for discretionary review must be filed with the Clerk of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. See id. R. 68.3. Any petition for discretionary review should comply with the requirements of Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 68.4. See id. R. 68.4.

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