Court Opinion

ID: 9914595
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-01-02 16:08:45.125494+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:14:07.781678
License: Public Domain

Fourth Court of Appeals
                                        San Antonio, Texas
                                 MEMORANDUM OPINION

                                          No. 04-22-00626-CR

                           EX PARTE Abraham VASQUEZ-MARQUEZ

                      From the County Court at Law No.1, Webb County, Texas
                                Trial Court No. 2022CRB000721L1
                            Honorable Leticia Martinez, Judge Presiding 1

Opinion by:       Irene Rios, Justice

Sitting:          Irene Rios, Justice
                  Beth Watkins, Justice
                  Lori I. Valenzuela, Justice

Delivered and Filed: December 27, 2023

REVERSED AND REMANDED

           Appellant Abraham Vasquez-Marquez 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, Vasquez-Marquez, 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, Vasquez-Marquez argued the State of Texas was engaging in selective

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.
                                                                                      04-22-00626-CR

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

Vasquez-Marquez’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 (Tex.

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

the same arguments the appellant asserted in that appeal. See id. at *1–2. Because this appeal

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

explained in that opinion, we reverse the trial court’s order and remand the cause to the trial court

with instructions to discharge Vasquez-Marquez from bail and dismiss the information in the

underlying proceeding with prejudice. See id. at *1–2, 6.

                                                  Irene Rios, Justice

Do not publish

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