Page 33 - 2023 May June TPA Journal_Neat

Joe C. Tooley, Legal Digest Editor
Joe C. Tooley, Attorneys & Counselors, Rockwall, Texas
www.TooleyLaw.com 972-722-1058

TEXAS POLICE ASSOCIATION

LEGAL DIGEST

May - June 2023

AUTHOR’S NOTE: It is the goal of this submission to extract those portions of relevant appellate
opinions or the syllabus of the legal reporter which bear directly upon law enforcement methods
and provide guidance for officers on an operational level. Much of the information pertaining to
these cases is lifted verbatim from the court opinion or syllabus with independent analysis inserted
as appropriate. Due to clarity for training purposes, the distinction between quotes from the
opinions and inserted analysis is not always identified and legal citations within the opinion are
often omitted. Emphasis is placed upon reported decisions from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

BRADY CASE -- Conviction dismissed for County is set aside, and Applicant is remanded to
the custody of the Sheriff of Dallas County to
Brady violation.
answer the charges as set out in the indictment. The
Applicant was convicted of unlawful possession of trial court shall issue any necessary bench warrant
a firearm by a felon and sentenced to three years’ within ten days from the date of this Court’s
imprisonment. He did not appeal his conviction. mandate.
Applicant filed this application for a writ of habeas
corpus in the county of conviction, and the district Dissent by J. Yeary: Today the Court
clerk forwarded it to this Court. concludes that Applicant’s guilty plea was entered
involuntarily, and it grants him a new trial. I
Applicant contends, among other things, that his disagree with that disposition and think that we
plea was involuntarybecause it was induced by should remand the cause for additional fact
material misrepresentations by law enforcement development relating to Applicant’s claim that his
officers in their probable cause affidavit and guilty-plea counsel rendered ineffective assistance
incident reports that the search and subsequent in counseling him to accept the plea though a basis
discovery of the firearm in Applicant’s hotel room existed to suppress crucial state’s evidence in the
were done legally. Based on the record, the trial case. But because I would not grant Applicant a
court has determined that Applicant’s plea was new trial at this point, without a complete record
involuntary. on Applicant’s ineffective assistance of counsel
claim, I respectfully dissent.
Relief is granted. Brady v. United States, 397 U.S.
742 (1970). The judgment in cause number F-20- Called to a motel at which gunshots had been
60819-V in the 292nd District Court of Dallas reported in a hallway, police officers found shell

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