1. “Are mandatory life-without-parole sentences cruel and unusual as applied to intellectually disabled offenders?” 2. “If the opinion below is affirmed, what are the available punishment options?”
1. “The court of appeals departed from the proper standard of review by substituting its own judgment for that of the magistrate who viewed the warrant affidavit and found probable cause.” 2. “The court of appeals employed a heightened standard for probable cause, departing from the flexible stan...
“The Beaumont Court of Appeals erred in finding the evidence legally sufficient to prove Petitioner had a qualifying prior conviction for purposes of Texas Penal Code § 22.01(b)(2)(A). Consequently, A. Petitioner was entitled to a directed verdict; and B. Petitioner’s objections to the § 22.01(b)...
1. “The Illegal Voting statute requires that ‘the person knows the person is not eligible to vote.’ Tex. Elec. Code §64.012(a)(1). This Court’s precedent, notably Delay v. State, 465 S.W.3d 232 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014), confirms that the State must prove that the person knew her conduct violated th...
“The Court of Appeals for the First District erred when it found, contrary to five other courts of appeals, that a trial court maintains unending jurisdiction over community supervision cases to grant ‘judicial clemency.’”
“After holding that the evidence was legally and factually insufficient to support the trial court’s rejection of the defendant’s due-diligence affirmative defense, the Court of Appeals erred in failing to further address the issue of estoppel, even though the State raised the estoppel issue in t...
“The court of appeals ignored important evidence and substituted its interpretation of the victim’s testimony for the jury’s.”
1. “The Court of Appeals erred by finding the value ladder provisions of the forgery statute to be mandatory in all cases where forgery was committed in order to obtain property or services.” 2. “The Court of Appeals erred by holding that the State was required to allege the purpose for which App...
denotes a petition filled by SPA