Liverman v. Texas (original by presiding judge keller)
Annotate this CaseAppellants filed mechanic’s lien affidavits with the Denton County Clerk’s Office, which alleged that they had performed “labor and/or materials” worth a certain amount of money on the home of Katheryn Payne. As a result of these filings, the State charged appellants with securing the execution of documents by deception by causing the county clerk, Cynthia Mitchell, to sign or execute the mechanic’s lien affidavits. Appellants were convicted, fined, and placed on community supervision. The court of appeals reversed appellants’ convictions and rendered judgments of acquittal. The court held that the evidence was legally insufficient to support the convictions because “the conduct of the court clerk filing and recording” the mechanic’s lien affidavit in each case “was not the signing or executing of a document as contemplated by subsection 32.46(a)(1).” The issue this case presented for the Court of Criminal Appeal's review centered on whether a person commits the crime of securing the execution of documents by deception when he files a false mechanic’s lien affidavit with the county clerk. The Court concluded that such a person does not commit that crime because he does not cause “another” to “execute” a document affecting property or pecuniary interests. "[I]t is the filing person, not the clerk, who brings the mechanic’s lien affidavit into its final, legally enforceable form. Because the county clerk does not execute the mechanic’s lien affidavit when the affidavit is filed, the appellants did not cause 'another' to 'execute' the documents at issue in the present case." Consequently, the Court agreed with the court of appeals that the evidence was legally insufficient to support the conviction, and affirmed its judgment.
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