DocketNumber： 03-04-00239-CV
Filed Date： 3/31/2005
Status： Precedential
Modified Date： 9/6/2015
TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN
NO. 03-04-00239-CV
Jonathan Barnes, Appellant
v.
Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, Appellee
FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF CALDWELL COUNTY, 22ND JUDICIAL DISTRICT
NO. 02-FL-376, HONORABLE DON B. MORGAN, JUDGE PRESIDING
M E M O R A N D U M O P I N I O N
This is an appeal from an order terminating appellant Jonathan Barnes’s parental rights to his two daughters, C.B. and S.B. At the time of trial in January 2004, C.B. was eleven and S.B. was ten. Their mother was killed in a car accident in 1997. The Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services removed the children from Barnes’s custody in July 2002 after C.B. made an outcry that Barnes had sexually assaulted her. At the time of trial, the children were living with their maternal grandparents, who hoped to adopt them if Barnes’s rights were terminated.
Jamie Corley, Barnes’s ex-girlfriend, testified that in July of 2002, when C.B. was not yet nine, C.B. told her that shortly after her mother died, Barnes had sex with her several times, giving considerable detail of what had happened and how Barnes had behaved afterwards. Corley confronted Barnes with the allegations, and Barnes got angry and physically assaulted her, throwing her and her young son out of the house. Corley called the police, who began an investigation. C.B.’s medical examinations did not reveal any injury or trauma, but a doctor testified that many sexually abused children have normal exam results. Several police, medical, and mental health witnesses testified that C.B. repeated her allegations to them. There was testimony that the children’s behavior and school performance have improved since they were removed from Barnes’s care, and several witnesses testified about inappropriate or dangerous behavior by Barnes, including: taking C.B. to watch him urinate when she was about three years’ old, saying, “You need to see what one of these look like”; spanking the children at least once with a belt, leaving large, dark bruises on S.B.’s backside; speeding and driving recklessly with the children in the car; making inappropriate remarks in front of or to the children; refusing to bring the children to a doctor when they complained of burning and itching in their genitals; leaving the children alone at night; and frequently smoking marijuana in the garage while the children were in the house. Barnes refused to answer any questions, asserting his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. See U.S. Const. amend. V. Following a jury trial, the district court signed an order terminating Barnes’s parental rights.
Barnes’s appointed counsel has filed a brief stating that, after a thorough review of the record, he believes this appeal is frivolous. The brief presents a thorough and professional evaluation of the record discussing and demonstrating why there are no arguable grounds for reversal. A copy of the brief was delivered to Barnes, who was notified of his right to seek other counsel or file a pro se brief. He has done neither. The Department has filed its own brief agreeing that the appeal is frivolous and explaining why it believes there are no arguable grounds for reversal.
We have conducted our own review of the record and we agree with counsel’s assessment that the appeal is frivolous. We therefore affirm the trial court’s order and grant counsel’s motion to withdraw.
__________________________________________
David Puryear, Justice
Before Chief Justice Law, Justices Patterson and Puryear
Affirmed
Filed: March 31, 2005