“Whether the Court of Appeals properly protected appellant’s right to an instruction on a lesser included offense by failing to consider his testimony regarding an intervening circumstance that caused the accident resulting in death?”
“Whether conclusory lay testimony can contradict undisputed testimony from medical sources and a victim on the issue of serious bodily injury such that a lesser-included offense is a ‘valid, rational alternative’ to the charged offense?”
“Is a summary reversal warranted when the lower court violated an absolute requirement by applying law not applicable to the case, i.e. the punishment-phase sudden passion issue, not in effect until 1994, to a first-degree murder committed in 1991?”
1. “Should error in the punishment enhancement charge be reviewed as charge error rather than as an ‘illegal sentence’?” 2. “What standard of harm applies to charge errors that authorize a greater punishment?”
1. “The Court of Appeals erred when it held appellant’s actions invoked the forfeiture by wrongdoing doctrine in violation of the sixth amendment’s right to confront one’s accuser: is not knowing the location of a witness wrongdoing – especially if the State was able to serve the witness with a s...
“Can error in a sexual-assault charge—which fails to specify that the defendant used his penis—be harmful when there was no evidence or claim that he used anything else?”
1. “Does a trial court’s sua sponte submission of an issue in the jury charge prevent a court of appeals from considering whether the evidence raised such an issue?” 2. “If, under a defensive view of the evidence, the defendant in a murder case drew, pointed, and wrestled over the gun of his own...
“What is the unit of prosecution for failure to appear, Tex. Penal Code § 38.10?”
denotes a petition filled by SPA