IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
OF TEXAS
NO. PD-0478-20
ROBERT F. HALLMAN, Appellant
v.
THE STATE OF TEXAS
ON STATE’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW
FROM THE SECOND COURT OF APPEALS
TARRANT COUNTY
PER CURIAM.
OPINION
The court of appeals in this case held that the State violated the 2013 revision of
Article 39.14 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, also known as the Michael Morton Act,
when certain evidence the State should have disclosed pre-trial was not revealed until the
punishment phase of Appellant’s trial. Hallman v. State, 603 S.W.3d 178, 200 (Tex.
App.—Fort Worth 2020); TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art. 39.14. That evidence, Appellant
HALLMAN — 2
argued, was relevant at the guilt phase of his trial to impeach the testimony of the mother
of the complaining witness in this prosecution for various acts of sexual abuse.
The court of appeals concluded that the trial court erred in failing to grant
Appellant’s punishment-phase request for a mistrial because of the tardy disclosure of this
guilt-phase impeachment evidence. Hallman, 603 S.W.3d at 200. In so holding, the court
of appeals deemed the late-revealed evidence to have been “material” in contemplation of
Article 39.14(a), as amended by the Michael Morton Act. Id. at 199. We granted the State’s
petition for discretionary review to examine the decision of the court of appeals with
respect to its conclusion that the impeachment evidence was “material to any matter
involved in the action” for purposes of Article 39.14(a).
Since granting discretionary review in this case, this Court has issued its opinion in
Watkins v. State, ___ S.W.3d ___, 2021 WL 800617 (Tex. Crim. App. Mar. 3, 2021), in
which we construed the phrase “material to any matter involved in the action” under the
Michael Morton Act. The court of appeals in this case did not have the benefit of the
Court’s opinion in Watkins. We now vacate the judgment of the court of appeals and
remand the case to that court for further consideration and disposition consistent with
Watkins.
DELIVERED: April 21, 2021
PUBLISH