Collins, Nathan
10/16/2025
- “In holding that a defendant can be ‘convicted of illegal weapon possession and simultaneously subject to a deadly weapon finding’ in the absence of a collateral felony to which the finding could attach, the Seventh Court of Appeals’ decision conflicts with those of its sister courts; thus, necessitating a review by this Court to resolve the issue.”
- “The Court of Appeals’ decision regarding the propriety of the trial court’s inclusion in the judgment against Respondent of a deadly weapon finding when there was no associated felony to which that finding could be attached conflicts with this Court’s decision in Plummer v. State, and, thus, should be reviewed by the Court.”
During a time when Collins was barred from possessing a weapon, he fired a handgun more than 20 times over a highway and in the direction of a park. He was charged with only felon in possession, not felony deadly conduct. The jury convicted him of felon in possession and found that a deadly weapon had been used or exhibited.
On appeal, Collins argued that a deadly weapon finding under Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art 42A.054(c) requires that the defendant’s use or exhibition actually facilitate the predicate offense (here, felon in possession) and that his use of the gun didn’t facilitate that crime. The court of appeals rejected Collins’ argument. It relied on one of its earlier cases to hold that illegal weapon possession can serve as the predicate offense for a deadly weapon finding as long as the weapon is employed in some manner during the commission of the possession offense. Collins’ firing the handgun easily qualified.
Collins repeats his earlier arguments, contending that, by charging him solely with a possession offense (instead of another offense that his gun use would have facilitated), the State deprived itself of a deadly weapon finding.