Court Opinion

ID: 9907823
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-12-07 08:09:44.327683+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:06:16.400405
License: Public Domain

COURT OF APPEALS
                                  EIGHTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
                                       EL PASO, TEXAS

                                                    §                 No. 08-23-00204-CR

 EX PARTE:                                          §                    Appeal from the

 JOAN SEBASTIAN PEÑA-CORTES,                        §                     County Court

                                  Appellant.        §               of Kinney County, Texas

                                                    §                    (TC# 11945CR)

                                          JUDGMENT

        The Court, considering this cause as a petition for a writ of mandamus, remands to the trial

court for it to consider Joan Sebastian Peña-Cortes’s application for a pretrial writ of habeas corpus

on the merits in light of the Fourth Court of Appeals’ holding in Aparicio and its progeny, and

determine whether—at the time Peña-Cortes was arrested and charged with criminal trespass—the

State was applying the criminal trespass statute under Operation Lone Star in an unconstitutional

manner by selectively prosecuting males only, without justification.

        We deny the petition for writ of mandamus without prejudice to Peña-Cortes’s ability to

seek relief, if necessary, after the trial court has had an opportunity to reconsider its ruling.

        IT IS SO ORDERED THIS 30TH DAY OF NOVEMBER 2023.

                                                LISA J. SOTO, Justice

Before Palafox, and Soto, JJ., and Marion, C.J. (Ret.)
Marion, C.J., (Ret.) sitting by assignment