Lake v. Texas

A jury found appellant Rodney Lake guilty of sexual assault of a child under age seventeen and sentenced him to ten years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Upon the recommendation of the jury, sentence was suspended and appellant was placed on community supervision for ten years. The issue this case presented for the Court of Criminal Appeals' review was whether the denial of closing argument at a community-supervision revocation proceeding was the sort of error that was exempt from a harm analysis. The Court concluded that it was not, because the Supreme Court has not labeled it as structural. Consequently, the Court reversed the judgment of the court of appeals and remanded the case for a harm analysis View "Lake v. Texas" on Justia Law