Corey Demon Franklin v. State, 05-16-00546-CR

Corey Demon Franklin shot and killed Jerry Johnson on May 17, 2015; a jury convicted Franklin of murder and sentenced him to 80 years’ confinement.
Three family members were present: appellant (Franklin) and his uncles Jerry Johnson (decedent) and Crandall Kelly; their accounts of events conflicted at trial.
Kelly testified Franklin turned and shot Johnson after a verbal altercation; Kelly saw Franklin holding a gun but did not see the shooting itself.
Franklin testified he was afraid of Johnson based on prior threats and assaults, retrieved a concealed revolver from the house, and shot Johnson as Johnson advanced; he claimed self-defense but admitted Johnson was unarmed.
Forensic evidence: autopsy showed two front-entry gunshot wounds that caused death; a sawed-off revolver was found in a relative's garage.
On appeal Franklin raised (1) ineffective assistance of counsel and (2) insufficiency of the evidence (contending self-defense). The court also corrected the trial judgment to reflect two enhancement findings.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Franklin)	Held
Sufficiency of evidence / rejection of self-defense	The evidence and jury credibility determinations support conviction; State argued self-defense was disproved beyond a reasonable doubt	Franklin argued his testimony and physical evidence show he reasonably believed deadly force was necessary	Held: Overruled. Viewing evidence favorably to verdict, jury could rationally reject self-defense because Johnson was unarmed and Franklin's fear did not make deadly force reasonable
Ineffective assistance of counsel	State: Record does not show counsel performed deficiently or that any alleged errors caused prejudice; many challenged matters lack record context	Franklin: Counsel failed to object to inadmissible evidence, failed to request limiting instructions, played damaging video, didn't call experts, and failed to request sudden passion instruction at punishment	Held: Overruled. Record insufficient to show deficient performance or prejudice; appellate record lacks trial counsel explanation and errors were not shown harmful
Judgment modification (enhancements)	N/A	Franklin: challenged procedural errors in judgment entry	Held: Modified judgment on court's own motion to reflect appellant pleaded true to two enhancement paragraphs and jury found them true; as modified, judgment affirmed

Zuliani v. State, 97 S.W.3d 589 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003) (defendant must produce some evidence of self-defense to shift burden)
Saxton v. State, 804 S.W.2d 910 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991) (self-defense is a fact issue for the jury; credibility determinations are for the jury)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. 1984) (two-prong test for ineffective assistance: deficient performance and prejudice)
State v. Morales, 253 S.W.3d 686 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008) (applying Strickland in Texas; burden and standards for ineffective assistance)
Trevino v. Thaler, 569 U.S. 413 (U.S. 2013) (procedural limitations on presenting ineffective-assistance claims on direct appeal)
Freeman v. State, 125 S.W.3d 505 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003) (habeas is generally the proper vehicle for ineffective-assistance claims)
Robertson v. State, 187 S.W.3d 475 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006) (courts evaluate counsel performance under prevailing professional norms)
Garcia v. State, 57 S.W.3d 436 (Tex. Crim. App. 2001) (appellate courts should not find counsel deficient absent trial-counsel explanation unless conduct is outrageously deficient)
King v. State, 649 S.W.2d 42 (Tex. Crim. App. 1983) (defendant must show an expert was available and would have aided the defense)