Second Court of Appeals

Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of April 17, 2023.

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.

Alkayyali v. State, No. 02-21-00197-CR (Apr. 20, 2023) (Walker, J., joined by Kerr and Birdwell, JJ.).

Held:  When Appellant was charged with murder under two alternative theories, charge error existed when the jury was instructed in the application paragraph that it could convict Appellant under the second theory, though the “causes the death of” element was omitted as to that theory. And, Appellant was egregiously harmed by this error because it deprived Appellant of his right to due process and vitally affected his main defensive theory.