https://texasappeals.org/topics/harmless-error/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/2025/04/fda-v-wages-and-white-lion-flavored-vapes/Mon, 28 Apr 2025 07:00:00 -0500https://texasappeals.org/2025/04/fda-v-wages-and-white-lion-flavored-vapes/A unanimous Court held that the FDA’s denial orders were sufficiently consistent with its earlier guidance on scientific evidence, comparative efficacy and device type, and so did not violate the change-in-position doctrine. It remanded the question whether the agency’s failure to consider marketing plans was harmless, holding that the Fifth Circuit had read Calcutt v. FDIC too broadly.https://texasappeals.org/2024/12/ex-parte-halprin-judicial-bias-new-trial/Mon, 02 Dec 2024 07:00:00 -0600https://texasappeals.org/2024/12/ex-parte-halprin-judicial-bias-new-trial/The court found by a preponderance of the evidence that the judge who presided over Halprin’s 2003 capital murder trial was actually biased against him because he is Jewish, held that actual judicial bias is structural error requiring no showing of harm, and remanded for a new trial. A second claim was dismissed as an abuse of the writ.