Second Court of Appeals | Case Summaries

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued – Week of October 30, 2006

NOTE: Summaries are prepared by the court's staff attorneys and law clerks for public information only and reflect his or her interpretation alone of the facts and legal issues. The summaries are not part of the court's opinion in the case and should not be cited to, quoted, or relied upon as the opinion of the court.

Links to full text of opinions (PDF version) can be accessed by clicking the cause number.

In re S.B. & Y.B., No. 02-06-00091-CV (Nov. 2, 2006) (Livingston, J., joined by Dauphinot and Holman, JJ.).: Held: Affirmed trial court's order terminating Appellant's parental rights. Although Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal, he failed to include all of his points on appeal in his motion for new trial or statement of points. Consequently, Appellant properly presented for review only his hearsay challenge to the children's counselor's statements, his legal and factual sufficiency challenges to the court's endangerment findings, and his factual sufficiency challenge to the court's best interest finding. The trial court properly admitted the counselor's testimony. Additionally, the evidence was factually and legally sufficient to support the trial court's endangerment finding; the evidence showed that Appellant murdered the children's mother and stabbed the mother's boyfriend while the children were present, attempted to commit suicide, had abused the mother in the past, and had used drugs while caring for the children. The evidence was also factually sufficient to support the court's best interest finding, as Appellant was incarcerated, did not comply with his Child Protective Services (CPS) plan, did not contact CPS about the children, refused to talk with the children, and had previously left the children with their mother, who was a prostitute and crack cocaine user. Further, CPS found other relatives of the children who could provide a loving, stable home.
Tarrant County v. Morales, No. 02-05-00394-CV (Nov. 2, 2006) (Cayce, C.J., joined by Holman and Walker, JJ.).: Held: Appellee pleaded sufficient facts to invoke the trial court's subject matter jurisdiction under the "conscious indifference" exception to the immunity provision in article 42.20 of the code of criminal procedure. Therefore, the trial court properly denied Appellant's plea to the jurisdiction.