Court Opinion

ID: 9911134
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-12-19 16:10:39.142075+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:56:18.916607
License: Public Domain

Fourth Court of Appeals
                                      San Antonio, Texas
                                 MEMORANDUM OPINION

                                         No. 04-22-00632-CR

                           EX PARTE Elliot Jerzain RAMOS-ESTRADA

                        From County Court at Law No. 1, Webb County, Texas
                                Trial Court No. 2022CRB000724L1
                            Honorable Leticia Martinez, Judge Presiding 1

Opinion by:       Lori I. Valenzuela, Justice

Sitting:          Rebeca C. Martinez, Chief Justice
                  Irene Rios, Justice
                  Lori I. Valenzuela, Justice

Delivered and Filed: December 13, 2023

REVERSED AND REMANDED

           Appellant Elliot Jerzain Ramos-Estrada appeals the trial court’s order denying him habeas

relief. We reverse the trial court’s order and remand the case for further proceedings consistent

with this opinion.

                                            BACKGROUND

           As part of Operation Lone Star, Elliot Jerzain Ramos-Estrada, a noncitizen, was arrested

for trespassing on private property in Webb County. He filed an application for writ of habeas

corpus seeking dismissal of the criminal charge based on a violation of his state and federal rights

to equal protection. Specifically, Ramos-Estrada argued the State of Texas was engaging in

1
 The Honorable Hugo D. Martinez is the judge of the Webb County Court at Law Number One. Associate Judge
Leticia Martinez signed the order denying the habeas corpus relief at issue in this appeal.
                                                                                    04-22-00632-CR

selective prosecution in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause and the Texas

Constitution’s Equal Rights Amendment because only men were being charged with misdemeanor

criminal trespass. See U.S. CONST. amend. XIV; TEX. CONST. art. I, § 3(a). The trial court denied

Ramos-Estrada’s requested relief, and he appealed.

                                           DISCUSSION

          The habeas proceeding in this appeal occurred concurrently with the proceeding we

reviewed in Ex parte Vazquez-Bautista, No. 04-22-00630-CR, 2023 WL 8440339, at *1–2 (Tex.

App.—San Antonio Dec. 6, 2023, no pet. h.) (en banc). On appeal, Ramos-Estrada is asserting the

same arguments the appellant asserted in that appeal. See id. at *3–6. Because this appeal involves

the same arguments and same evidentiary record as Vazquez-Bautista, for the reasons explained

in that opinion, we reverse and remand the case to the trial court with instructions to discharge

Ramos-Estrada from bail and dismiss the information in the underlying proceeding with prejudice.

See id.

                                                 Lori I. Valenzuela, Justice

DO NOT PUBLISH

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