PD-1514-14
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
AUSTIN, TEXAS
Transmitted 1/22/2015 2:16:50 PM
Accepted 1/28/2015 10:38:56 AM
ABEL ACOSTA
Cause No. PD-1514-14 CLERK
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
Ronnie Leon Dabney,
Appellant
January 28, 2015 v.
State of Texas,
Appellee
On Petition for Discretionary Review from the
Court of Appeals, Second District of Texas
No. 02-12-00530-CR
State’s Supplemental Petition for Discretionary Review
Maureen Shelton John Gillespie
Criminal District Attorney First Asst. Criminal District Attorney
Wichita County, Texas Wichita County, Texas
State Bar No. 24076904 State Bar No. 24083252
Maureen.Shelton@co.wichita.tx.us John Gillespie@co.wichita.tx.us
900 Seventh Street
Wichita Falls, Texas 76301
(940) 766-8113 phone
(940) 716-8530 fax
To the Court of Criminal Appeals:
Pursuant to Rule 68.10 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure, the State
submits a supplemental brief. The State supplements its brief to bring to
the attention of this Court appellate activity citing Dabney v. State, No. 02-
12-00530-CR in the Second Court of Appeals.
Dabney is already being cited by its author
In the recently-published case of Ex Parte Roberson 1 out of the
Second Court of Appeals, Justice Dauphinot (in dissent) has cited the
opinion she authored in Dabney v. State to support her speculative and
antagonistic theories regarding the Wichita County Criminal District
Attorney.2
Based upon these serious and unsupported accusations, the Wichita
County District Attorney’s Office has now filed motions to recuse Justice
Dauphinot from its cases before the Second Court of Appeals.3
1
No. 02-13-00582-CR, 2015 WL 148476, at *5-9 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2015, no
pet. h.) (Dauphinot, J., dissenting).
2
No. 02–12–00530–CR, 2014 WL 5307178, at *7–9 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth Oct.
16, 2014, pet. filed) (mem. op., not designated for publication). She cites two other
cases to support her theory: Pitman v. State, 372 S.W.3d 261, 268–70 (Tex.App.—Fort
Worth 2012, pet. ref'd), where the discovery issue was not even necessary to the
disposition of the appeal, and Juarez v. State, No. 02–08–00167–CR, 2009 WL
1564926, at *1 & n. 2 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth June 4, 2009, no pet.) (mem. op., not
designated for publication), an unpublished opinion where the discovery issue was not
even ruled on, for lack of preservation.
3
See Docket Sheet for Smith v. State, No. 02-13-00319-CR in the Second Court
of Appeals of Texas, available at http://www.search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=02-13-
00319-CR (last visited Jan. 22, 2015); Docket Sheet for Leija v.State, No. 02-13-00473-
The State has already demonstrated that the memorandum opinion in
Dabney conflicted with (or ignored) the settled case law from this Court in
(1) adding a notice requirement to rebuttal evidence offered to rebut a
defensive theory; (2) ignoring the credibility determinations of the trial judge
and instead substituting the author’s own credibility judgments; and (3)
failing to follow this Court’s directive to consider overwhelming evidence of
guilt in conducting a harm analysis.4 In addition to so dramatically failing to
follow the precedent of this Court, the author of the opinion has now cited
her own opinion to allege a pattern of constitutional abuse. 5 This
subsequent use of the Dabney opinion shows the imperative need for this
Court to grant review.
While Dabney may have been presented as an unpublished,
memorandum opinion, its use by the author (before the State’s petition for
discretionary review was even resolved) to show an alleged pattern of
constitutional abuse demonstrates that the author of the opinion intends it
to have ramifications which far exceed the typical unpublished
CR in the Second Court of Appeals of Texas, available at
http://www.search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=02-13-00473-CR (last visited Jan. 22,
2015); and Docket Sheet for Johnson v. State, No. 02-13-00482-CR in the Second
Court of Appeals of Texas, available at
http://www.search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=02-13-00482-CR (last visited Jan. 22,
2015).
4
The State’s Petition for Discretionary Review, Dabney v. State, No. PD-1514-14
(Tex. Crim. App. Nov. 12, 2014).
5
Roberson, 2015 WL 148476 at *9 (Dauphinot, J., dissenting).
memorandum opinion. 6 Therefore, the State would respectfully ask this
Court to grant review and to assert the Court of Criminal Appeals’
corrective power of supervision.7
Prayer
The fact that the author of Dabney is now citing it as the basis of
serious allegations against the Wichita County Criminal District Attorney
shows how essential it is for the opinion of the Second Court of Appeals in
Dabney to be reviewed. The State of Texas prays the Court of Criminal
Appeals grant review, reverse the opinion of the Second Court of Appeals,
affirm the judgment of the trial court, and bring Dabney into alignment with
the well-settled precedent of this honorable Court.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/Maureen Shelton
Maureen Shelton
Criminal District Attorney
Wichita County, Texas
State Bar No. 00786852
Maureen.Shelton@co.wichita.tx.us
/s/John Gillespie
John Gillespie
First Asst. Criminal District Attorney
Wichita County, Texas
State Bar No. 24010053
John.Gillespie@co.wichita.tx.us
6
Id.
7
See Tex. R. App. P. 66.3(f).
900 Seventh Street
Wichita Falls, Texas 76301
(940) 766-8113 phone
(940) 766-8177 fax
Attorneys for Appellee
State of Texas
Certificate of Compliance
I certify that this document contains 646 words. The body text is in
14 point font, and the footnote text is in 12 point font.
/s/John Gillespie
John Gillespie
Certificate of Service
I do certify that on January 22, 2015, a true and correct copy of the
above document has been electronically forwarded to Mark Barber,
counsel for Ronnie Leon Dabney on appeal, via electronic service to
mbarberlaw@aol.com, and to the State Prosecuting Attorney, Lisa McMinn,
at information@spa.texas.gov.
/s/John Gillespie
John Gillespie