Reeves v. Texas

A jury convicted appellant of murder for killing his friend, Jeromie Jackson. At trial, appellant admitted that he stabbed Jeromie, but claimed he did so in self-defense. The trial judge instructed the jury on the issue of self-defense, but over appellant's objection, he also instructed the jury on provocation as a qualification on the self-defense issue. The jury rejected appellant's self-defense claim, found him guilty of murder, and sentenced him to eighteen years' imprisonment. On appeal, appellant raised one claim: whether the trial court erred in including the provocation instruction over his objection. The court of appeals found appellant had suffered some harm, reversed appellant's conviction, and ordered a new trial. The Supreme Court granted the SPA's petition to review only the court of appeals' determination that appellant suffered harm from the inclusion of the provocation instruction. After its review, the Court agreed with the appellate court that appellant did suffer actual harm when his self-defense claim was improperly limited by the inclusion of an unwarranted provocation instruction. View "Reeves v. Texas" on Justia Law