Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued – Week of February 5, 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.

Vann v. State, No. 02-06-00129-CR (Feb. 8, 2007) (Livingston, J., joined by Dauphinot and Holman, JJ.).

Held: The trial court erred by refusing to allow Appellant to ask potential jurors whether they would automatically disbelieve a witness with a prior felony conviction. Appellant's only witness was a convicted felon, and it is possible that jury members automatically disbelieved this witness's testimony. Therefore, the trial court's error is such that it had a significant or injurious effect on the jury's verdict so that Appellant's substantial rights-specifically, his rights to a fair and impartial jury and to make an intelligent decision on whether to call or not call a witness-were affected.

« Return to Case Summaries Home Page «

Updated: 08-Feb-2007