Texas Court of Appeals

Aguilera v. State

No. 13-22-00308-CR                       3/28/24

Issue:

Did the trial court err when it revoked the defendant’s community supervision for failing to report to his supervision officer each month after the defendant raised a due diligence defense under CCP Art. 42A.109 at his motion to revoke hearing?

Holding:

No. Art. 42A.109 is an affirmative defense that can be raised to prove that the supervising agency has not attempted to contact a defendant in person at his last known address or place of employment. But the courts have concluded this defense to be applicable only if raised after a defendant’s community supervision has expired. Here, the defendant was arrested prior to the expiration of his period of community supervision, so the due diligence defense did not apply. Read opinion.

Commentary:

In reaching its holding, the court of appeals relied upon the 2012 decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals in Garcia v. State. This decision is a straightforward application of that decision.  This case—and Garcia—should be helpful in those cases in which the defendant has raised a “due diligence” defense, but the State has timely arrested the defendant.

Mason v. State

No. 02-18-00138-CR                       3/28/24

Issue:

Was the evidence sufficient to support the defendant’s conviction for illegal voting under Texas Election Code §64.012(a)(1)?

Holding:

No. This case was remanded back to the court of appeals from the CCA (prior case summary can be found here). Part of the CCA’s opinion held that one of the State’s elements that must be proven was that the defendant had actual knowledge of her ineligibility to vote in the election. After reviewing the record, the court of appeals concluded “that the quantum of evidence presented in this case is insufficient to support the conclusion that Mason actually realized that she voted knowing that she was ineligible to do so and, therefore, insufficient to support her conviction for illegal voting.” Read opinion.

Commentary:

The controlling statute requires the State to prove that the voter knew that she was ineligible to vote, and the Court of Criminal Appeals had already ruled in the previous decision that the language of the statute required the State to prove that the voter was aware of the circumstance that rendered her ineligible to vote and was aware that the circumstance in fact rendered her ineligible to vote. That certainly would make it more difficult for the State to prove a violation of the statute. When the defendant voted in this case, she was on supervised release after having served her entire federal sentence. The facts of this case are lengthy, and it is unlikely that these same facts will be repeated in another illegal-voting prosecution. Nevertheless, any prosecutor faced with one of these cases will need to read this decision, as well as the decision from the Court of Criminal Appeals that preceded it.

TDCAA executive director search is underway

Rob Kepple will be retiring at the end of the year, and the TDCAA Board of Directors has formed a search committee to help select the new executive director. Interested in applying for the position? See the job posting here. The application deadline is May 1, 2024.

Domestic Violence Resource Prosecutor

The Texas District and County Attorneys Association is pleased to announce the creation of a new position: Domestic Violence Resource Prosecutor (DVRP). Patterned after the successful Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor position (which provides training and support for prosecutors handling intoxicated driving cases), the DVRP will be responsible for training and technical assistance to Texas prosecutors and law enforcement personnel around the state. For more information, see the job posting here.

Sign up for the Round Up!

Starting next week, TDCAA will offer a new weekly email subscription service called “The Round Up” that will contain news articles from around the state and nation of interest to Texas prosecutors and their allied professionals in law enforcement or the legal community. To begin receiving that information in your inbox every Thursday morning, sign up here.