Rogers v. Texas (original by judge richardson)
Annotate this CaseAppellant William Rogers was originally charged in a two-count indictment for Burglary of a Habitation predicated on either the intent to commit a felony, or attempting and having committed a felony. Count I alleged Appellant possessed the intent to commit Aggravated Assault in Paragraph A. Paragraph B alleged Appellant completed the commission of the Aggravated Assault. Count II alleged in Paragraphs A and B a similar scheme, but with the intent to Murder and the commission of Attempted Murder. From the same incident but by a second indictment, Appellant was charged with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. During a pretrial hearing, the State informed the trial court that they would: (1) waive and abandon Count I Paragraph A, and all of Count II; and (2) proceed solely on Count I Paragraph B (Burglary of a Habitation) based on the commission of Aggravated Assault as charged in the first indictment. The State also proceeded on the second indictment alleging Aggravated Assault and both were tried together. Appellant was convicted of both Burglary of a Habitation with the underlying commission of Aggravated Assault, and Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, for which he was sentenced to 40 years for the Burglary and 20 years for the Aggravated Assault to be served concurrently. On his first appeal, an appeals found the Burglary conviction subsumed the Aggravated Assault conviction and thus, vacated the latter. The court also held, without deciding error first, that the trial court’s failure to instruct on any defensive issues was harmless. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted review and unanimously held that if error existed, it was harmful error. And it remanded for the court of appeals to decide whether the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on self-defense and necessity. The court of appeals then concluded there was no error and that Appellant failed to provide any evidence that would entitle him to a jury instruction on self-defense or necessity. The Texas Court of Appeals granted review for a second time, this time to decide whether the error analysis was flawed. After a thorough review of the case, the Court concluded the trial court erred by refusing to grant the requested defensive charge of self-defense and, as previously held, that Appellant was harmed at every stage of the process.
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