Edward Bobby Martinez v. the State of Texas

CourtTexas Court of Appeals, 7th District (Amarillo)
DecidedApril 13, 2026
Docket07-25-00237-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Edward Bobby Martinez v. the State of Texas (Edward Bobby Martinez v. the State of Texas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Court of Appeals, 7th District (Amarillo) primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edward Bobby Martinez v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

In The Court of Appeals Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo

No. 07-25-00237-CR

EDWARD BOBBY MARTINEZ, APPELLANT

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE

On Appeal from the 251st District Court Randall County, Texas Trial Court No. 26672C, Honorable Ana Estevez, Presiding

April 13, 2026 MEMORANDUM OPINION Before PARKER, C.J., and DOSS and YARBROUGH, JJ.

Appellant, Edward Bobby Martinez, appeals the revocation of his suspended

sentence for the offense of indecency with a child by sexual contact. 1 Appellant was

sentenced to ten years’ incarceration. Appellant challenges the trial court’s judgment

1 See TEX. PENAL CODE § 21.11(a)(1). revoking his community supervision and imposing sentence. We modify and affirm the

judgment.

BACKGROUND

In June of 2016, Appellant was indicted for one count of sexual assault of a child

and one count of sexual indecency with a child by sexual contact. After a trial was held

in January of 2023, a jury reached an impasse as to the sexual assault count but

unanimously convicted Appellant as to the indecency count. The trial court declared a

mistrial as to the sexual assault charge and accepted the jury’s guilty verdict as to the

indecency with a child charge. The jury’s punishment verdict sentenced Appellant to ten

years’ incarceration but recommended that the sentence be suspended with Appellant

being placed on community supervision. The trial court accepted the jury’s verdicts and

entered judgment consistent therewith. Appellant appealed this judgment. This Court

modified the judgment to remove the assessment of court-appointed attorney’s fees and

affirmed the judgment as modified. See Martinez v. State, No. 07-23-00045-CR, 2024

Tex. App. LEXIS 19, at *13 (Tex. App.—Amarillo Jan. 3, 2024, no pet.) (mem. op., not

designated for publication).

On April 9, 2025, the State filed a motion to revoke Appellant’s community

supervision alleging that he had violated the terms and conditions of his community

supervision by failing to successfully complete the sex offender treatment program. At

the hearing on the State’s motion, Appellant pleaded “not true” to the allegation. The

State offered testimony from Appellant’s community supervision officers and sex offender

treatment program counselors who testified that Appellant was discharged from the

2 program because he refused to complete his intake paperwork and submit to a required

instant-offense polygraph. At the close of the hearing, the trial court found that Appellant

violated the terms and conditions of his community supervision and imposed the ten-year

sentence. The trial court inquired into Appellant’s ability to pay attorney’s fees and costs,

and Appellant indicated that he did not have a present ability to pay costs and would not

have such ability in the future. The trial court entered judgment containing a finding that

Appellant does not have a present or future ability to pay fees and costs. The bill of costs

identifies fees and costs associated with this case, including an assessment of court-

appointed attorney’s fees, but identifies the “remaining amount due” as “$0.00.” From

this judgment, Appellant timely appeals.

By his appeal, Appellant presents two issues. By his first issue, Appellant

contends that it was reversible error for the trial court to revoke his community supervision

based on his assertion of his constitutional right against self-incrimination. By his second

issue, Appellant contends that the prospective recovery of attorney’s fees in the bill of

costs should be deleted.

REVOCATION OF COMMUNITY SUPERVISION

Appellant contends, by his first issue, that the trial court erred in revoking his

community supervision based solely on his invocation of his right against self-

incrimination. The State responds that Appellant’s right against compelled self-

incrimination is not implicated by his refusal to submit to an instant-offense polygraph.

To convict a defendant of a crime, the State must prove guilt beyond a reasonable

doubt, but to revoke community supervision, the State need only prove a violation of a

3 condition of that community supervision by a preponderance of the evidence. Hacker v.

State, 389 S.W.3d 860, 864–65 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013). An order revoking community

supervision is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Id. at 865. Proof of any one violation

of the terms and conditions of community supervision is sufficient to support a revocation.

Velasquez v. State, No. 07-25-00093-CR, 2025 Tex. App. LEXIS 8147, at *6 (Tex. App.—

Amarillo Oct. 22, 2025, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication) (citing

McDonald v. State, 608 S.W.2d 192, 200 (Tex. Crim. App. 1980) (op. on reh’g)). In a

revocation hearing, the trial court is the sole judge of the credibility of the witnesses and

the weight to be given to their testimony. Hacker, 389 S.W.3d at 865.

The Fifth Amendment provides that no person shall be compelled in any criminal

case to be a witness against himself. U.S. CONST. amend. V; Ex parte Dangelo, 376

S.W.3d 776, 781 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012). In addition to prohibiting a defendant from being

called as a witness against himself in a criminal prosecution, the Fifth Amendment permits

him to refuse to answer official questions asked in other proceedings, whether civil or

criminal or formal or informal, where the answers might incriminate the defendant in future

criminal proceedings. Ex parte Dangelo, 376 S.W.3d at 781. However, “the Fifth

Amendment is not implicated where the compelled statements can no longer result in

criminal liability.” In re Medina, 475 S.W.3d 291, 301 (Tex. Crim. App. 2015). Thus, once

direct appeals are over or double jeopardy precludes future prosecution for the crime

about which the questioning inquires, the defendant loses his right to assert his protection

from self-incrimination as to that crime. Id. at 300–301. In these situations, the defendant

may be compelled to discuss the facts of the final or jeopardy-barred offense because the

4 State may not use the defendant’s answers against him in a future criminal proceeding.

Ex parte Dangelo, 376 S.W.3d at 781.

In the instant case, Appellant was adjudicated guilty of the offense of indecency

with a child by sexual contact and he has exhausted all available appeals of that

conviction. Evidence was presented at the revocation hearing that Appellant was not

discharged from his required sex offender treatment program until he refused to submit

to the instant-offense polygraph examination. During the hearing, Appellant’s sex

offender treatment program counselor testified that the instant-offense polygraph

“focus[es] only on the offense that they have been adjudicated for; and so we don’t talk

about any other historical sexual behavior.” Consequently, the record reflects that

Appellant’s Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination no longer applied

to the instant offense and, therefore, he could not refuse to answer legitimate questions

that are a condition of his community supervision regarding that offense. Id. We conclude

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Related

McDonald v. State
608 S.W.2d 192 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1980)
Dangelo, Ex Parte Joseph P.
376 S.W.3d 776 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2012)
Hacker, Anthony Wayne
389 S.W.3d 860 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2013)
Medina, Hector Rolando
475 S.W.3d 291 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2015)

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