Obella v. Texas

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Appellant Angel Obella entered a guilty plea to aggravated sexual assault and was sentenced by the trial court to 30 years’ imprisonment. Appellant filed a motion for new trial alleging that his plea was involuntary based on ineffective assistance of counsel, and requesting that the motion be set for a hearing. Appellant attached affidavits in support of his allegations. The State filed a response to the motion and attached an affidavit of appellant’s trial counsel. The trial court did not hold a hearing and the motion was overruled by operation of law. Appellant claimed the trial court abused its discretion by not conducting a hearing on his motion for new trial. The State filed a motion for rehearing with the court of appeals, alleging that appellant failed to preserve his new-trial claim because he did not timely “present” the motion to the trial court. The court of appeals denied the State’s motion for rehearing. The State sought review with the Court of Criminal Appeals, claiming in part that the issue of presentment involved an issue of error preservation, that issues involving preservation of error are systemic and should be addressed by the reviewing court on its own motion, and that the court of appeals erred in not deciding the issue of presentment after it was brought to the court’s attention in the State’s motion for rehearing. The Court of Criminal Appeals agreed and reversed. View "Obella v. Texas" on Justia Law