https://texasappeals.org/topics/direct-appeal/Clinical descriptions of the Texas appellate decisions drawing the most press coverage.Hugo -- gohugo.ioen-usMon, 01 Dec 2025 07:00:00 -0600https://texasappeals.org/2025/12/parker-v-state-capital-direct-appeal/Mon, 01 Dec 2025 07:00:00 -0600https://texasappeals.org/2025/12/parker-v-state-capital-direct-appeal/The court held that the evidence was sufficient for a rational juror to find that the infant removed from the victim’s body was “born and is alive” when the defendant kidnapped or attempted to kidnap her, and it overruled twenty-four other points of error on the merits or for lack of preservation or briefing. A concurrence addressed the Penal Code’s two definitions of “individual.”https://texasappeals.org/2025/10/ex-parte-speer-capital-habeas/Mon, 06 Oct 2025 07:00:00 -0500https://texasappeals.org/2025/10/ex-parte-speer-capital-habeas/In a per curiam opinion, the court held that a Bowie County district court had no jurisdiction over a constitutional habeas application seeking to bar the Texas Department of Criminal Justice from using allegedly expired and fire-damaged pentobarbital in a scheduled execution, because such an injunction would function as a stay of execution that only the Court of Criminal Appeals may grant. The court did not reach the merits of the method-of-execution claims.