Casey Ellis Heath v. the State of Texas
CourtTexas Court of Appeals, 7th District (Amarillo)
Date FiledJuly 27, 2026
Docket07-25-00350-CR
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
In The
Court of Appeals
Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo
No. 07-25-00350-CR
CASEY ELLIS HEATH, APPELLANT
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE
On Appeal from the 251st District Court
Potter County, Texas
Trial Court No. 083797-C-CR, Honorable Ana Estevez, Presiding
July 27, 2026
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before DOSS and YARBROUGH and PRATT, JJ.
Appellant, Casey Ellis Heath, appeals from a judgment adjudicating him guilty of
the offense of stalking, a third-degree felony,1 and sentencing him to four years of
confinement. Appellant’s court-appointed counsel has filed an Anders brief and a motion
to withdraw.2 Because our independent review confirms that no arguable ground for
appeal exists, we modify the trial court’s judgment and affirm it as modified.
1 See TEX. PENAL CODE § 42.072.
2 See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 744, 87 S. Ct. 1396, 18 L. Ed. 2d 493 (1967).
BACKGROUND
This appeal arises from an adjudication of guilt following an initial order of deferred-
adjudication community supervision. In November 2024, Appellant pleaded guilty to
stalking. Pursuant to a plea bargain, the trial court deferred a finding of guilt, placed
Appellant on community supervision for four years, and entered a protective order
prohibiting him from contacting the victim.
In April 2025, the State moved to proceed with an adjudication of guilt. The motion
alleged five violations of the conditions of supervision: (a) violating the protective order;
(b) failing to support his dependents; (c) consuming alcohol; (d) being present at an
establishment whose primary business was the sale of alcohol; and (e) violating his
curfew. Appellant pleaded true to allegations (b) and (c) and not true to the remaining
three.
The State then abandoned allegation (d) and offered evidence on the contested
allegations. The victim testified that she saw Appellant drive past a park she frequents,
within the distance the protective order prohibited. An Amarillo police officer testified that
he measured that distance and that a vehicle Appellant drives, identified by its license
plate on two nearby cameras, was within the protected area when the victim reported the
sighting. On the curfew allegation, the State offered a photograph and the testimony of
Appellant’s probation officer. Appellant testified in his own defense, and his mother
testified that she, not Appellant, was driving the vehicle the victim saw.
At the close of the hearing, the trial court found allegations (a), (b), (c), and (e)
true. The court adjudicated Appellant guilty of stalking and assessed punishment at four
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years of confinement in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice. This appeal followed.
ANDERS REVIEW
When appointed counsel concludes, after a conscientious examination of the
record, that an appeal is frivolous, counsel must file a brief identifying anything in the
record that might arguably support the appeal. Anders, 386 U.S. at 744. Counsel must
also provide the client a copy of the brief and the motion to withdraw and inform the client
of the right to file a pro se response and a pro se petition for discretionary review. In re
Schulman, 252 S.W.3d 403, 408 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008). This Court, in turn, must
independently examine the entire record to determine whether any nonfrivolous issue
exists. Bledsoe v. State, 178 S.W.3d 824, 826–28 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005); Kelly v. State,
436 S.W.3d 313, 319–20 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014).
Counsel has met these requirements. He has certified that, after a diligent search
of the record, he found no reversible error on which an appeal could be predicated. He
provided Appellant a copy of the Anders brief, the motion to withdraw, and the appellate
record, and he notified Appellant of the rights to file a pro se response and a pro se petition
for discretionary review. This Court likewise notified Appellant of his right to respond. No
response has been filed.
Our independent review confirms counsel’s assessment. Proof of a single violation
of the conditions of supervision supports an adjudication of guilt. Anderson v. State, 621
S.W.2d 805, 805 (Tex. Crim. App. 1981). Appellant’s pleas of true to allegations (b) and
(c), standing alone, support the trial court’s decision to adjudicate. Having reviewed the
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entire record, we find the appeal wholly frivolous and identify no arguable ground for
reversal.
MODIFICATION OF THE JUDGMENT
Although we find no reversible error, our review revealed one ambiguity in the
judgment. The judgment recites that Appellant entered a plea of “TRUE” to the State’s
motion to adjudicate. However, the record shows that Appellant pleaded true only to
allegations (b) and (c) and not true to the remaining allegations.
An appellate court may reform a judgment to make it speak the truth when it has
the information necessary to do so. French v. State, 830 S.W.2d 607, 609 (Tex. Crim.
App. 1992). We therefore modify the judgment to reflect that Appellant pleaded true to
allegations (b) and (c) only.
CONCLUSION
We grant counsel’s motion to withdraw, modify the judgment as set forth above,
and affirm the judgment as modified.3
Lawrence M. Doss
Justice
Do not publish.
3 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 judgment to Appellant and to advise him of his right to file a petition for discretionary
review. See TEX. R. APP. P. 48.4; In re Schulman, 252 S.W.3d at 411 n.35.
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