Williams v. Texas (original by presiding judge keller)
Annotate this CasePursuant to agreement, appellant James Williams pled guilty to two felony offenses. In addition to the written terms of the plea agreement, the parties orally agreed to a statement made by defense counsel. This statement, occurring at the plea hearing after defense counsel acknowledged the written terms of the agreement “in each case,” was: “And the State . . . is going to refuse prosecution of any other case in which the State has notice . . . unfiled cases.” Appellant argued that this oral part of the plea agreement was unambiguous and bars the prosecution of an unrelated murder case because the State had notice of it at the time of the plea. The State contended that this oral part of the agreement was ambiguous and that affidavits from the attorneys involved in the plea showed that the plea agreement was not intended to encompass the murder case. After review, the Court of Criminal Appeals agreed with the State and affirmed the court of appeals.
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