Court Opinion

ID: 9857888
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 16:05:45.089092+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:47:29.893422
License: Public Domain

CLINTON, Judge,
concurring.
The Court bypasses standing questions for review presented by the State, yet gratuitously addresses the Sixth Amendment issue raised by appellant below. See Seubert v. State, 749 S.W.2d 585 (Tex.App.— Houston [1st] 1988) (appellant need not meet equal protection “requirement of Bat-son” because he also asserts a denial of due process and a Sixth Amendment violation, id., at 588).
However, the Houston Court of Appeals rightly held that appellant has standing to complain of alleged discriminatory exercise of peremptory challenges to exclude black *71venirepersons. Holland v. Illinois, — U.S. -, 110 S.Ct. 803, 805-806, 107 L.Ed.2d 905 (1990). Nevertheless, insofar as the opinion of this Court is read to rule out reliance on the Sixth Amendment for relief in this cause, it is correct. Id., at -, 110 S.Ct., at 806-809, 107 L.Ed.2d, at 914-19.
Still, we should caution bench and bar that Holland v. Illinois does not preclude a white defendant from raising a Batson issue based on the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Id., at -, 110 S.Ct., at 811-812 (Justice Kennedy concurring); 110 S.Ct. at 813-814 (Justice Marshall, joined by Justices Brennan and Blackmun, dissenting); at 820 (Justice Stevens dissenting). Sufficient is a word to the wise.
With those observations I join the judgment of the Court.
MILLER, J., joins this opinion.