Bullock v. Texas

Appellant Henry Bullock, Jr. was convicted by a jury of theft of a furniture delivery truck, a third-degree felony. In his sole ground in his petition for discretionary review, appellant contended that the court of appeals erred by upholding the trial court’s decision that had declined his request for a lesser-included-offense jury instruction on attempted theft. The Court of Criminal Appeals agreed with appellant that there was more than a scintilla of evidence in the record from which a rational fact finder could have found that he was guilty only of attempted theft of the truck, rather than theft, and thus the court of appeals erred by concluding that the trial court properly declined to give the lesser-included-offense instruction. The Court reversed the court of appeals, and remanded this case to that court for it to consider in the first instance whether the trial court’s failure to give a lesser-included-offense instruction on attempted theft harmed appellant. View "Bullock v. Texas" on Justia Law