Second Court of Appeals | Case Summaries

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued – Week of May 7, 2007

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 can be accessed by clicking the cause number then clicking View HTML Version of Opinion.

Smith v. Dean, No. 02-06-00042-CV (May 10, 2007) (Livingston, J., joined by Dauphinot and Holman, JJ.).: Held: Trial court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to grant challenges for cause as to venire members who raised their hands in response to confusing, compound question by Appellant's counsel; by raising their hands in response to such a question, the venire members did not give unequivocal answers that showed bias as a matter of law. In addition, venire members who expressed some bias during questioning of the panel were rehabilitated by their answers to subsequent questions by defense counsel.
In re R.B., No. 02-05-00357-CV (May 10, 2007) (Cayce, C.J., joined by Dauphinot and Walker, JJ.).: Held: Appellants' equal protection challenge to family code section 161.103(e), which governs voluntary affidavits relinquishing parental rights, is waived on appeal because the complaint was not raised in the trial court. Further, the evidence is legally and factually sufficient to show that Appellants executed their affidavits voluntarily and knowingly and not as a result of fraud, duress, or coercion.
Davidson v. State, No. 02-06-00146-CR (May 10, 2007) (Gardner, J., joined by Walker and McCoy, JJ.).: Held: The trial court violated Appellant's statutory and constitutional right to a jury trial by trying his case to the bench when Appellant did not expressly waive that right.