Second Court of Appeals

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of December 13, 2021.

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.

Sopko v. State, No. 02-20-00162-CR (Dec. 16, 2021) (Womack, J., joined by Bassel and Wallach, JJ.).

Held:  Appellant was not harmed when—after the trial court denied his motion for discovery—a witness statement and a video pertaining to the underlying offense were not produced by the State in advance of Appellant’s punishment hearing held after Appellant pleaded true to violating probation.  The record showed that (1) the State had already produced both pieces of evidence to Appellant’s original trial counsel before Appellant was placed on probation; (2) Appellant and his probation counsel knew of the existence of both pieces of evidence before the punishment hearing; (3) the trial court had already issued a standing discovery order requiring the State to produce all required evidence; (4) Appellant’s probation counsel did not request a continuance; and (5) the trial court did not rely on the facts of the underlying offense in making its sentencing decision.