Brandon Michael Hamel v. the State of Texas

• Court: Texas Court of Appeals, 9th District (Beaumont)
• Decided: March 18, 2026
• Docket: 09-23-00370-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

________________

NO. 09-23-00370-CR ________________

BRANDON MICHAEL HAMEL, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

________________________________________________________________________

On Appeal from the 1st District Court Jasper County, Texas Trial Cause No. 14546JD ________________________________________________________________________

MEMORANDUM OPINION

A grand jury indicted Appellant, Brandon Michael Hamel, (“Hamel” or

“Appellant”) for two offenses: (1) sexual assault of a child in cause number

14546JD, and (2) possession of child pornography in cause number 14683JD. See

Tex. Penal Code Ann. §§ 22.011(a)(2), 43.26(a)(1). These offenses are a second and

a third-degree felony, respectively. See id. §§ 22.011(f), 43.26(d). Although the two

1 cases were consolidated for trial and heard by a single jury, which convicted Hamel

on both charges, we are issuing separate opinions in these appeals. 1

Hamel’s appellate brief argues only that the evidence was insufficient to

convict Hamel of possession of child pornography. Although Hamel mentions other

possible arguments, he states that the issue mentioned “is the only issue that would

be appropriate for review.” We therefore construe Hamel’s brief as an Anders brief

as it applies to Appeal No. 09-23-00370-CR and accordingly directed Hamel’s

appointed appellate counsel to file a motion to withdraw as counsel. See Anders v.

California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967); High v. State, 573 S.W.2d 807 (Tex. Crim. App.

1978). We also directed counsel to mail a copy of the brief and his motion to

withdraw to Hamel by August 18, 2025.

An Anders brief presents counsel’s professional evaluation of the record and

concludes the appeal of Appeal No. 09-23-00370-CR is frivolous. When filing his

Motion to Withdraw, counsel notified Appellant of his right to file a pro se brief and

notified him of the deadline for doing so. Pursuant to Appellant’s request to examine

the appellate record, on November 10, 2025, we directed the clerk of the trial court

to provide Appellant access to a copy of the reporter’s record and the clerk’s record

on or before December 9, 2025, and to provide written verification to this Court of

We affirmed Hamel’s conviction for possession of child pornography. See 1

Hamel v. State, No. 09-23-00371-CR, 2025 Tex. App. LEXIS 6685 (Tex. App.— Beaumont Aug. 27, 2025, pet. ref’d) (mem. op., not designated for publication). 2 the date and manner in which the appellate record was provided. See Kelly v. State,

436 S.W.3d 313, 319-20 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014). The trial court did so, and we

informed Appellant of his February 23, 2026 deadline to file a pro se brief, but we

received no response from Appellant.

Upon receiving an Anders brief, this Court must conduct a full examination

of the record to determine whether the appeal is wholly frivolous. Penson v. Ohio,

488 U.S. 75, 80 (1988) (citing Anders, 386 U.S. at 744). We have reviewed the entire

appellate record and counsel’s brief, and we agree with counsel’s conclusion that no

arguable issues support the appeal in Appeal No. 09-23-0370-CR. 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 record for reversible error but found none, the court of appeals met

the requirements of Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 47.1.”). Therefore, we find

it unnecessary to order appointment of new counsel to re-brief the appeal. Cf.

Stafford v. State, 813 S.W.2d 503, 511 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991). We affirm the trial

court’s judgment.2

2 Appellant may challenge our decision in this case by filing a petition for discretionary review. See Tex. R. App. P. 68. 3 AFFIRMED.

JAY WRIGHT Justice

Submitted on July 8, 2025 Opinion Delivered March 18, 2026 Do Not Publish

Before Golemon, C.J., Wright and Chambers, JJ.