Johnson v. Texas (Original)
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Appellant was convicted by a jury of capital murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. At trial, appellant sought to cross-examine two State's witnesses for bias by informing the jury of the specific felony charges (and concomitant ranges of punishment) the witness then faced in Harris County. However, the trial court limited his cross-examination to exposing the fact that the witnesses stood accused only of certain unspecified "felonies." On appeal, the appellate court rejected appellant's claim that the trial court's ruling violated his right under the Confrontation Clause to effectively cross-examine adverse witnesses and affirmed the conviction. In his petition for discretionary review, appellant urges the Court of Criminal Appeals to reverse the court of appeals on the ground that "[m]erely informing the jury that the State's witnesses had pending felony indictments is insufficient to accomplish what the Sixth Amendment right of confrontation intends[.]" Finding no reversible error, the Court affirmed.
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