Fleming v. Texas (Original)
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Appellant Mark Fleming was charged with four counts of aggravated sexual assault. He filed a motion to quash the indictment on the basis that the aggravated sexual assault statute was unconstitutional for failing to require the State to prove that he had a culpable mental state related to the victim's age and for failing to recognize an affirmative defense based on the defendant's reasonable belief that the victim was 17 years of age or older. The trial court denied the motion. Appellant entered a plea of "no contest," filed an application for community supervision, and invoked his right to have the jury determine punishment. On the second day of testimony, one of the jurors informed the court that his son had dated the victim. In order to avoid a mistrial, the State and Appellant entered into a plea agreement for a ten-year probated sentence. Appellant appealed the trial court's denial of his motion to quash. The court of appeals overruled Appellant's federal constitutional claims and affirmed the trial court's judgment. We remanded the case to the court of appeals to consider Appellant's state constitutional claims, and the court of appeals again affirmed the trial court. Appellant filed a petition for discretionary review, which the Court of Criminal Appeals granted to consider whether Penal Code Section 22.021 is unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Due Course of Law provision of the Texas Constitution because it failed to require the State to prove that the defendant had a culpable mental state regarding the alleged victim's age, and failed to recognize an affirmative defense based on the defendant's reasonable belief that the alleged victim was 17 years of age or older. Finding the statute constitutional, the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the court of appeals.
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