Justia Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Opinion Summaries

Defendant was convicted of reckless driving and deadly conduct. The court of appeals concluded that defendant's two convictions represented multiple punishments for the same offense in violation of the prohibition against double jeopardy and reversed the conviction for reckless driving. The State petitioned for review. The court held that the court of appeals correctly concluded that, when the same conduct violated two different statutory provisions, the two offenses were the same for double jeopardy purposes if one offense contained all of the elements of the other. The court of appeals compared the elements of the two offenses, as charged, and concluded that they were the same for double jeopardy purposes in this case. This analysis was correct, but incomplete. The court of appeals did not consider whether the Legislature intended the conduct to be punished only once. Therefore, the court granted Ground one of the State's petition for Discretionary Review, vacated the judgment of the court of appeals, and remanded the cause for further proceedings. View "Zuliani v. State" on Justia Law