Second Court of Appeals | Case Summaries

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued – Week of December 3, 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 (PDF version) can be accessed by clicking the cause number.

Downs v. State, No. 02-06-00198-CR (Dec. 06, 2007) (Gardner, J., joined by Holman and McCoy, JJ.).: Held: Appellant was convicted of the aggravated sexual assault of a disabled person. Trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to request the defenses of necessity and medical care defense. Appellant’s own testimony negated application of the defense of necessity, and the medical care defense is only available in scenarios involving children. Further, Appellant’s equal protection guarantees were not violated by the medical care defense being unavailable in this case. The medical care defense’s availability when children are involved and not when disabled persons are involved is a distinction that does not invoke equal protection concerns. This distinction is also rationally related to a legitimate State interest.