Comeaux, Farrain Joseph, 445 S.W.3d 745

Texas defendant Comeaux convicted of burglary of a habitation sentenced to 50 years; conviction challenged for cause denial to PJ 23; appellate court affirmed preservation issue but reversed on harm; juror PJ 27 would have been struck; appellant struck PJ 34 outside strike zone; jury seated with PJ 27 and PJ 34 potentially impacting outcome

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether harm was shown for denial of challenge for cause	Comeaux; harm shown due to forced use of strike on biased PJ 23	Comeaux failed to exhaust strikes and wasted strike outside zone, no harm	Harm not shown; strike outside zone deemed wasteful, but appellant could have struck PJ 27
Effect of striking outside strike zone on preservation of error	Comeaux preserved error by challenge for cause; harm determined by failures	Wasted strike outside zone cannot support harm as PJ 27 could have been struck	Wasting strikes outside zone relieves harm, affirming court of appeals
Five-step harm framework applicability	Framework required to prove detriment from denied cause challenge	Framework correctly applied; defendant self-inflicted harm by choices	Circumstances show no harm under five-step test due to options not exercised

Comeaux v. State, 413 S.W.3d 176 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 2013) (reaffirms harm-based approach to denial of challenge for cause and fifth-step requirement)
Johnson v. State, 43 S.W.3d 1 (Tex.Crim.App.2001) (harm shown by wrongful denial of peremptory challenge; preservation vs. harm distinction)
Feldman v. State, 71 S.W.3d 738 (Tex.Crim.App.2002) (determinant of detriment when cause challenge denied and only biased juror seated)
Gardner v. State, 306 S.W.3d 274 (Tex.Crim.App.2009) (harm requires deprivation of statutorily allotted peremptory challenges)
Davis v. State, 329 S.W.3d 798 (Tex.Crim.App.2010) (supports harm analysis in denial of challenge for cause)
Wolfe v. State, 178 S.W.2d 274 (Tex.Crim.) (early articulation of peremptory challenge rights and error dynamics)