Villafranco v. Texas (original by judge keel)
Annotate this CaseAppellant Jesse Villafranco, Jr. was charged with aggravated sexual assault, attempted indecency with a child, and indecency with a child by exposure. At trial, Appellant sought to ask the victim about a previous incident of sexual abuse by someone else to rebut medical evidence offered by the State. The trial court questioned the victim outside the presence of the parties and ruled the evidence of prior sexual abuse inadmissible. The State and defense agreed the trial court failed to follow the proper procedure for a hearing under Rule of Evidence 412 (the “rape shield” rule), and erred in excluding the State, defense counsel, and Appellant from the hearing. The court of appeals affirmed the trial court, concluding that Appellant did not show harm. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted review to consider whether the court of appeals erred in failing to remand this case to the trial court to remedy its error as required by LaPointe v. Texas, 225 S.W.3d 513 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007), and whether the trial court’s error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. To this, the Court held the court of appeals erred in failing to follow LaPointe. The appeal was abated and the case remanded to the trial court for an adversarial hearing on the admissibility of the evidence of prior sexual abuse. This resolution rendered moot Appellant’s second ground for review, and the Court did not consider the issue of harm.
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