Jarente Mitchell v. State, 02-17-00112-CR

Mitchell pleaded guilty to burglary of a habitation in 2014; the trial court deferred adjudication and placed him on 3 years’ community supervision. A $300 nonsuspended fine was included in the deferred-adjudication order.
The State later filed a petition to proceed on allegations Mitchell violated multiple supervision conditions: new offense, repeated marijuana use, failures to report, missed supervision-fee payments, and failure to pay court costs/fine/fees.
At the revocation/adjudication hearing the trial court found the alleged violations true, revoked community supervision, adjudicated Mitchell guilty, and sentenced him to five years’ confinement.
The written judgment adjudicating guilt included a $190.99 fine and an order to withdraw funds from Mitchell’s inmate trust account; the trial court did not orally impose any fine at sentencing.
Mitchell’s court-appointed appellate counsel filed an Anders brief and motion to withdraw, stating the appeal was frivolous; Mitchell did not file a response. The court conducted an independent review of the record.
The Court of Appeals held the appeal frivolous, granted counsel’s motion to withdraw, modified the judgment to delete the $190.99 fine (and the inmate-account withdrawal order), and affirmed the judgment as modified.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the written $190.99 fine can stand where no fine was orally pronounced at sentencing	The State: the written minute may reflect court’s intent (implicitly supporting the fine)	Mitchell: the written fine conflicts with the oral pronouncement; no fine was announced at sentencing	The court held the oral pronouncement controls; deleted the $190.99 fine and related withdrawal order from the written judgment
Whether the appeal is frivolous permitting counsel to withdraw under Anders	Mitchell (appellant) implicitly argued issues warranting appeal	Appellate counsel argued the appeal is frivolous and filed an Anders brief	The court independently reviewed the record and agreed the appeal is frivolous; granted counsel’s motion to withdraw
Whether the evidence supported revocation and adjudication	The State argued the proof of violations justified revocation and adjudication	Mitchell challenged the revocation (through appeal) as lacking merit	The court found the record supported the trial court’s findings and affirmed adjudication and sentence (except as modified)
Whether prior deferred fine remained after adjudication	The State: prior deferred order (including the $300 fine) had been set aside by adjudication	Mitchell: any earlier fine should not be reimposed without oral pronouncement	The court treated the deferred fine as set aside by the adjudication and enforced that the court’s oral sentence controls over written inconsistencies

Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (U.S. 1967) (standards for counsel to withdraw when appeal is frivolous)
Stafford v. State, 813 S.W.2d 503 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991) (appellate court’s duty to independently review record after Anders brief)
United States v. Wagner, 158 F.3d 901 (5th Cir. 1998) (consider Anders brief along with record in independent review)
In re Schulman, 252 S.W.3d 403 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008) (procedures for Anders-style review in Texas)
Taylor v. State, 131 S.W.3d 497 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004) (oral pronouncement of sentence controls written judgment)
Kelly v. State, 436 S.W.3d 313 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014) (appellant’s right to respond to Anders brief and counsel’s obligations)
Bledsoe v. State, 178 S.W.3d 824 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005) (appellate review in Anders appeals)
Meza v. State, 206 S.W.3d 684 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006) (same)
Bray v. State, 179 S.W.3d 725 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2005) (modifying judgment in Anders appeal and affirming as modified)