"A mistrial and a new trial are largely 'functionally indistinguishable.' Here, the jury reached lawful guilty verdicts, but error tainted the punishment phase after the jury saw Appellant in shackles. Under these facts, a trial court granting a new trial must grant the new trial only as to punis...
"Whether the Fourth Court of Appeals erred by failing to recognize and apply the analysis of the United States Supreme Court and this Court's past rulings under the First, Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Dormant Commerce Clause, and Article 1 ยง 19 of the Texas...
"The court of appeals erred when it affirmed the trial court's denial of the lesser-included jury charge of deadly conduct in the trial for aggravated assault on a public servant."
"Does the submission of an instruction on transferred intent entitle a defendant to an instruction on mistake of fact even if the greater offense does not have any additional culpable mental state and there is no evidence that the defendant harbored a mistaken belief?"
"Did the court of appeals err in holding that the savings clause of S.B. 746 violated the separation of power clause of the Texas Constitution so even though Appellant's appeal was pending when the Texas legislature amended chapter 841 Health & Safety Code to decriminalize the conduct for whi...
"Did the State of Texas properly preserve error for lack of notice of a pre-trial hearing pursuant to Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art 28.01 when in truth they objected merely to the evidentiary character of a pre-trial hearing on a Motion to Suppress?" "Did the court of appeals err in concluding tha...
"Is fire a deadly weapon when Good-Samaritan neighbors and firefighters were in the "zone of danger" and had to take 'evasive action' to contain and extinguish nearby flaming vegetation and a burning house emitting 'extremely toxic' fumes?"
"The majority of the court of appeals erred in holding that Appellant failed to preserve error in the exclusion of evidence of Diles's prior convictions, his physical abuse of Castillo, and his gang membership." "The majority of the court of appeals erred in holding that the trial court did no...
denotes a petition filled by SPA