Aekins v. Texas

A jury found appellant Donald Aekins guilty of three counts of sexual assault. The court of appeals held that his convictions for both contacting and penetrating the adult victim’s sexual organ with his mouth violated his right against multiple punishments for the same offense because the contact and penetration were based on the same act. The State petitioned the Court of Criminal Appeals for discretionary review to clarify: (1) when a single exposure or contact offense is "incident to and subsumed by" a penetration offense, the offenses are the "same" for double-jeopardy purposes; (2) that the Texas Legislature has not manifested its intent to allow multiple punishments for those "same" offenses; so (3) multiple convictions for those "same" offenses violate double-jeopardy principles. The Court concluded that the court of appeals properly vacated the conviction for the "contact" sexual assault count, and affirmed that court's judgment. View "Aekins v. Texas" on Justia Law