OPINION HERVEY, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. Appellant, Larry Joseph Tillman, was charged with capital murder. TEX. PENAL CODE 12.31(b), 19.03(a)(2). A jury found him guilty, and the trial court assessed the automatic punishment of confinement for life in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The Fourteenth Court of Appeals affirmed. Tillman v. State, No. 14-08-00846-CR, 2010 WL 2103938, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 4013 (Tex.App.-Houston...
OPINION COCHRAN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court in which MEYERS, PRICE, WOMACK, JOHNSON and ALCALA, JJ., joined. Four police officers came to Mr. Weaver's welding shop looking for a person wanted in another county. Mr. Weaver gave the officers consent to search for that person. The officers, over Mr. Weaver's objection, ended up searching a van on his property and finding drugs in it. The trial judge granted Mr. Weaver's motion to suppress because he found that the search of the van...
KELLER, P.J., delivered the opinion of the Court in which MEYERS, PRICE, WOMACK, KEASLER, HERVEY, COCHRAN and ALCALA, joined. Appellee filed an application for writ of habeas corpus, alleging that her guilty plea to felony theft twenty-three years ago was involuntary. After a hearing at which appellee testified, the trial court granted relief. The court of appeals reversed, saying, "[T]he only `evidence' in the record regarding appellee's claim is her own sworn testimony, which is insufficient...
OPINION PER CURIAM. A jury convicted Appellant of evading arrest or detention, and assessed punishment at confinement for ten years. The Court of Appeals found the evidence legally insufficient to support a third-degree felony offense level because the State failed to present proof of a prior conviction at the guilt/innocence stage of trial. Griego v. State, No. 07-09-00206-CR (Tex. App.-Amarillo, delivered June 10, 2010). Additionally, the Court of Appeals determined the evidence was...
OPINION COCHRAN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court in which KELLER, P.J. and WOMACK, JOHNSON, KEASLER, and HERVEY, JJ., joined. An officer stopped appellant's car for a traffic offense and, during that stop, asked if he could search the car. The officer said that appellant consented. During a consensual search of appellant's pocket, the officer found a pill bottle containing marijuana. Appellant filed a motion to suppress that evidence, arguing that he did not voluntarily consent to...
ORDER PER CURIAM. In this application for writ of mandamus, the relator requests that we order the trial court to enter a judgment nunc pro tunc awarding him a certain period of pre-trial jail-time credit. 1 The Fourteenth Court of Appeals has already denied the relator mandamus relief, 2 and rightly so. Today we deny mandamus relief as well. We write additionally to alert unwary trial counsel of the need to address an issue such as the one presented in this case at the appellate...
MEYERS, J., delivered the opinion of the unanimous Court. OPINION In November 2008, a jury convicted appellant of the capital murder of Texas Game Warden Justin Hurst committed in March 2007. TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. 19.03(a)(1). Based on the jury's answers to the special issues set forth in Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 37.071, sections 2(b) and 2(e), the trial court sentenced appellant to death. Art. 37.071, 2(g). 1 Direct appeal to this Court is automatic. Art. 37.071, 2(...
WOMACK, J., delivered the opinion of the unanimous Court. This is an appeal from a sentence that was enhanced under Penal Code Section 12.42(c)(2), which mandates a life sentence for a defendant convicted of a sex-related offense listed in Subsection (A) if the defendant has been previously convicted of a Texas offense listed in Subsection (B), or an offense "under the laws of another state containing elements that are substantially similar to the elements" of a Texas offense listed in...
OPINION PRICE, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which MEYERS, WOMACK, JOHNSON, KEASLER, HERVEY and COCHRAN, JJ., joined. This is a post-conviction application for writ of habeas corpus brought pursuant to Article 11.07. 1 We filed and set this application in order to address the applicant's claim that he is entitled to credit against his prison sentence for a lengthy period of time during which he was allowed to remain at large on an appellate bond even though, unbeknownst to him,...
OPINION COCHRAN, J., delivered the opinion of the unanimous Court. We granted review of this retaliation case to determine whether a variance between the indictment allegation of one statutory element—the description of the complainant as "a witness"—is material when the proof shows that the complainant was either a "prospective witness" or "an informant"—two different statutory elements. 1 The court of appeals decided that this variance was immaterial and the evidence therefore legally...
