Court Opinion

ID: 9961936
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-21 17:12:32.692376+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:19:24.493005
License: Public Domain

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
                         OF TEXAS
                                        NO. WR-95,378-01

                          EX PARTE FELIX DELACRUZ, Applicant

                ON APPLICATION FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS
               CAUSE NO. DCR-5914-19A IN THE 154TH DISTRICT COURT
                             FROM LAMB COUNTY

     Per curiam. KEEL, J. filed a dissenting opinion in which KELLER, P.J., YEARY, and
SLAUGHTER, JJ. joined.

                                           OPINION

       Applicant pleaded guilty and was convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child and

sentenced to forty years’ imprisonment. Applicant filed this application for a writ of habeas corpus

in the county of conviction, and the district clerk forwarded it to this Court. See TEX. CODE CRIM.

PROC. art. 11.07.

       Applicant contends that plea was involuntary because counsel gave him erroneous

information regarding his parole eligibility. Applicant contends, and counsel admits, that Applicant

was told that he would be eligible for parole after serving twenty years, but in fact, this sentence is

without parole. Applicant contends that he would not have pleaded guilty but for counsel’s bad
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information. We find that there is a reasonable probability that Applicant would have rejected the

plea and gone to trial had he known that the sentence was without parole. Ex parte Morrow, 952

S.W.2d 530 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997).

       Relief is granted. Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742 (1970). The judgment in cause

number DCR-5914-19 in the 154th District Court of Lamb County is set aside, and Applicant is

remanded to the custody of the Sheriff of Lamb County to answer the charges as set out in the

indictment. The trial court shall issue any necessary bench warrant within ten days from the date of

this Court’s mandate.

       Copies of this opinion shall be sent to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice–Correctional

Institutions Division and the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Delivered: April 17, 2024
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