“Is a child’s statement to police inadmissible if a magistrate begins the process to determine voluntariness under Tex. Fam. Code § 51.095(f) but never finishes it?”
“The Second Court of Appeals’s opinion that draws a determinative distinction under article 22.02 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure between the calling of a defendant’s name at a “courtroom door” as opposed to a “courthouse door” conflicts with every ot...
1. “Once a witness learns the meaning of a phrase from other people is the meaning of that phrase thereafter part of the personal knowledge of the witness which the witness can then testify to without violating the Confrontation Clause?” 2. “Are non-hard science expert witnesses required under t...
When two indictments are consolidated for trial under Texas Penal Code § 3.02 and the first indictment is based on a statute that has been challenged via a pretrial habeas application, but the statute underlying the second indictment is not challenged, does consolidation impact the cognizability ...
1. “Does defense-elicited testimony that the victim’s allegations of sexual abuse are lies and the result of manipulation and coaching justify the admission of lay, rebuttal testimony from an officer that the victim’s allegations were credible?” 2. “If the officer’s brief victim-credibility test...
“The Fourteenth Court erred by holding that a motion to dismiss that explicitly reserved the State’s right to refile was retroactively converted into an ‘immunity agreement’ when the trial court dismissed a subsequent case on grounds of equitable immunity. Nothing in the record shows the trial co...
1. “Whether the majority opinion fails to defer to the strong presumption that trial counsel’s decision not to pursue a sudden passion instruction fell within the wide range of reasonably professional assistance?” 2. “Whether the majority opinion’s harm analysis improperly disregards the effect...
1. “Is the fact of a witness’s inconsistency coupled with the jury’s prerogative to disbelieve part of his testimony affirmative evidence that supports submission of a lesser-included offense?” 2. “While evidence can be ‘weak, impeached, or contradicted’ and still raise a lesser-included offens...
denotes a petition filled by SPA