The Sixth Court of Appeals in Texarkana has officially affirmed the conviction and eighteen-year prison sentence of Simon Rico, Jr., following his guilty plea to a second-degree felony charge of manslaughter. The decision, delivered in a memorandum opinion by Justice Jeff Rambin on March 18, 2026, concludes a legal process that began in the 354th District Court of Hunt County.
Rico originally filed his notice of appeal on December 13, 2024, after being sentenced for the felony offense. While the trial court initially found Rico to be indigent and appointed him an attorney, he later replaced that court-appointed counsel with a private, retained lawyer.
This shift in representation changed the procedural requirements of the appeal. Unlike court-appointed attorneys, who must file specific documents known as Anders briefs to prove an appeal has no merit, retained attorneys are simply required to inform the court of the lack of arguable grounds for reversal and seek permission to withdraw.
According to the court’s opinion, Rico’s private attorney conducted a thorough review of the trial records and determined the appeal was “wholly without merit.”
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The attorney then filed a motion to withdraw from the case, stating there were no legitimate legal grounds to overturn the conviction. The Court of Appeals granted this request on September 23, 2025.
Although the attorney stepped down, the court provided Rico the opportunity to file his own “pro se” brief by October 23, 2025, to argue his case personally. The court records indicate that Rico did not submit a response or a brief by that deadline, nor by the submission date of November 24, 2025.
In the interest of justice, the appellate justices conducted their own independent review of the record to ensure the attorney’s assessment of the case was correct. Justice Rambin noted that the court “detected no arguable issue warranting reversal” during that review. With no legal errors identified in the original trial court proceedings, the higher court left the eighteen-year sentence standing. Chief Justice Stevens and Justice van Cleef joined Justice Rambin in the decision.
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