Tony Monshey Saddler v. State

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

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NO. 09-19-00212-CR

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TONY MONSHEY SADDLER, Appellant V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

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On Appeal from the 435th District Court Montgomery County, Texas

Trial Cause No. 17-09-11241

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MEMORANDUM OPINION

Tony Monshey Saddler appeals his conviction for assault causing bodily injury to a family member, enhanced to a second-degree felony. After reviewing the appellate brief filed by Saddler’s appointed counsel, we note that his brief presents statements, factual assertions, and arguments that are unclear or incomplete, and fails to include any citations to the record. An appellant’s brief must contain (1) a statement of the case concisely stating the nature of the case, the course of the proceedings, and the trial court’s disposition, each of which should be supported by

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citation to the record, (2) a statement of facts that must be supported by record references, and (3) “a clear and concise argument for the contentions made, with appropriate citations to authorities and to the record.” Tex. R. App. P. 38.1(d), (g), (i). When an appellate issue is unsupported by argument or lacks citation to the record or legal authority, nothing is preserved for review. See Wolfe v. State, 509 S.W.3d 325, 342-43 (Tex. Crim. App. 2017); Tong v. State, 25 S.W.3d 707, 710 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000). Accordingly, an appellant may forfeit error through his failure to brief adequately. See Leza v. State, 351 S.W.3d 344, 358 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011).

An appellate court has no obligation to construct and compose an appellant’s issues, facts, and arguments with appropriate citations to authorities and the record. Lucio v. State, 351 S.W.3d 878, 896-97 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011); Busby v. State, 253 S.W.3d 661, 673 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008). We conclude that Saddler’s complaints are inadequately briefed, and because we have no obligation to consider inadequately briefed points of error, we overrule Saddler’s complaints. See Tex. R. App. P. 38.1(d), (g), (i); Busby, 253 S.W.3d at 673. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

AFFIRMED.

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STEVE McKEITHEN

Chief Justice

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Submitted on May 6, 2020 Opinion Delivered October 14, 2020 Do Not Publish

Before McKeithen, C.J., Horton and Johnson, JJ.