Opinion

Contreras v. State

  • 312 S.W.3d 566
  • 2010 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 687
  • 2010 WL 2292290
Court
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
Filed
Jun 9, 2010
Status
Published
Author
Womack
On the bench
Keller, Meyers, Keasler, Hervey, Holcomb, Cochran, Womack, Price, Johnson
Cited by
121 cases
Authority
More cited than 7.1%

explaining that coercive government misconduct renders statement involuntary if defendant’s “will has been overborne and his capacity for self-determination critically impaired” (quoting Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 225 (1973))

How later courts described this case

  • explaining that coercive government misconduct renders statement involuntary if defendant’s “will has been overborne and his capacity for self-determination critically impaired” (quoting Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 225 (1973))
  • concluding that there was no jury unanimity issue in a felony murder conviction when the underlying felony was injury to a child and the mental states of intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, and with criminal negligence were alleged in the alternative
  • explaining that “Miranda or article 38.22, not article 38.23, is the vehicle for excluding statements obtained in violation of the Miranda guidelines”
  • declining to address issues raised in a brief because they were not raised in the petition for discretionary review

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

WOMACK, J.,

concurring.

I join the judgment of the Court and its opinion except as to “Invocation of Right to Counsel” — subpart 5 of part B (“Analysis”) of Part I (“ARTICLE 38.23 INSTRUCTION”). As the opinion says (ante, at 579), the court’s charge under Article 38.22 of the Code of Criminal Procedure included an instruction on the law applicable to waiver of right to counsel. Whether the charge under Article 38.23 also should have included an instruction on the same law seems to be moot. I see no need to discuss the question of the constitutional nature of the Miranda rule which so fractured the Supreme Court in Chavez v. Martinez, 538 U.S. 760 , 123 S.Ct. 1994 , 155 L.Ed.2d 984 (2003).

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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