No. 22-1139

Victor Santana v. Texas

Lower Court: Texas
Docketed: 2023-05-23
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response RequestedRelisted (2)
Tags: bolstering-evidence criminal-appeal criminal-procedure hearsay hearsay-evidence ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jury-instructions prior-bad-act-evidence prior-bad-acts trial-counsel
Key Terms:
HabeasCorpus
Latest Conference: 2024-01-05 (distributed 2 times)
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Did the Court of Criminal Appeals err in finding that trial counsel's errors did not amount to ineffective-assistance-of-counsel?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION PRESENTED FOR REVIEW Mr. Santana was convicted for aggravated assault after allegedly striking his girlfriend’s daughter in the head with a hickory stick. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison. During trial, his attorneys opened the door to a tidal wave of prior bad act evidence that would not have otherwise been admissible. They also failed to object to other inadmissible prior bad act evidence, and failed to request a limiting instruction related to all of the prior bad act evidence. Counsel even had a limiting instruction removed from the jury charge, and also failed to object to inadmissible hearsay and bolstering evidence. We know the jury considered the prior bad act evidence because the jury, which had been deadlocked in favor of a not guilty verdict, requested a jury readback of this harmful evidence. Defense counsel also failed to object to this improper jury readback. Shortly after the jury was read this testimony, they returned a verdict of guilty. In post-conviction proceedings, Mr. Santana alleged his trial counsel were ineffective. The lead trial attorney did not offer any strategic reasons for his failures. The state district court found that counsel was ineffective, but the Court of Criminal Appeals disagreed. Question Presented: Did the Court of Criminal Appeals err in finding that trial counsel’s errors did not amount to ineffective assistance of counsel?

Docket Entries

2024-01-08
Petition DENIED.
2023-12-29
2023-12-06
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/5/2024.
2023-11-17
2023-11-13
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including November 17, 2023.
2023-11-09
Motion to extend the time to file a response from November 13, 2023 to November 17, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
2023-10-05
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including November 13, 2023.
2023-10-04
Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 13, 2023 to November 13, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
2023-09-13
Response Requested. (Due October 13, 2023)
2023-09-13
Record Requested.
2023-09-13
Record transmitted electronically from Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.
2023-07-05
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/26/2023.
2023-05-18
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 22, 2023)

Attorneys

State of Texas
Lori Denise BrodbeckTexas Office of the Attorney General, Respondent
Texas
Rehana VohraHarris County District Attorney's Office, Respondent
Victor Santana
Jonathan David LandersJonathan Landers, Attorney at Law, Petitioner