Court Opinion

ID: 9889376
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-10 12:09:19.943854+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:50:02.065763
License: Public Domain

Fourth Court of Appeals
                                     San Antonio, Texas
                                  MEMORANDUM OPINION

                                        No. 04-22-00738-CR

                                        The STATE of Texas,
                                             Appellant

                                                  v.

                                     Ivan GALINDO-CHAVEZ,
                                             Appellee

                     From the 49th Judicial District Court, Zapata County, Texas
                                       Trial Court No. 11,799
                             Honorable Jose A. Lopez, Judge Presiding

Opinion by:       Luz Elena D. Chapa, Justice

Sitting:          Rebeca C. Martinez, Chief Justice
                  Luz Elena D. Chapa, Justice
                  Beth Watkins, Justice

Delivered and Filed: October 4, 2023

AFFIRMED

           The State appeals the trial court’s order granting Ivan Galindo-Chavez habeas relief. We

affirm the trial court’s order.

                                            BACKGROUND

           As part of Operation Lone Star (“OLS”), Galindo-Chavez, a noncitizen, was arrested for

trespassing on private property in Zapata 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
                                                                                  04-22-00738-CR

to equal protection. Specifically, Galindo-Chavez argued the State of Texas was engaging in

selective prosecution because only men were being charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass.

       On September 14, 2022, the trial court held a hearing and heard testimony from Claudia

Molina of the Lubbock Private Defender’s Office (“LPDO”), who testified Galindo-Chavez had

been arrested on August 5, 2022 for criminal trespass as part of OLS. According to Molina, she

was unaware of any women who have been prosecuted for misdemeanor trespass as part of OLS,

and based on a report concerning OLS cases with appointed counsel through the LPDO, none of

the five thousand trespass cases involved women. The trial court granted Galindo-Chavez’s

requested relief, and the State appealed.

                                            DISCUSSION

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

reviewed in State v. Del Campo-Chavez, No. 04-22-00737-CR, 2023 WL 4916433, at *1 (Tex.

App.—San Antonio Aug. 2, 2023, no pet. h.). On appeal, the State is asserting the same arguments

it asserted in that appeal. See id. at *2–3. Because this appeal involves the same arguments and

same evidentiary record as State v. Del Campo-Chavez, for the reasons explained in that opinion,

we affirm the trial court’s order granting habeas relief. See id.

                                                  Luz Elena D. Chapa, Justice

Do Not Publish

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