James Earl Williams v. State, 10-13-00413-CR

Williams was convicted of the June 12, 1998 murder of Darren Lang and sentenced to 85 years.
He moved to dismiss the 1998 murder indictment as barred by a 2002 plea agreement.
In 1998, Williams was indicted for aggravated robbery and aggravated assault; a 2002 plea addressed those offenses.
During the 2002 plea colloquy, the State allegedly agreed to refuse prosecution of any other unfiled case the State had notice of.
Parker and Layman affidavits in the murder case stated the murder charge was not included in the plea; the record shows other unfiled cases with notice to the State.
The court held the plea agreement language was ambiguous and denied Williams’s motion to dismiss; the conviction and sentence were affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the 2002 plea agreement barred the 1998 murder indictment	Williams	State	No; the plea was ambiguous and did not clearly include the murder charge

Ortiz v. State, 933 S.W.2d 102 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996) (contract interpretation for negotiated plea enforceability)
Wright v. State, 158 S.W.3d 590 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2005) (specific performance when plea agreement breached)
Perkins v. Third Supreme Judicial Dist. of Tex., at Austin, 738 S.W.2d 276 (Tex. Crim. App. 1987) (specific performance of negotiated plea; withdrawal if impractical)
Ex parte Adkins, 767 S.W.2d 809 (Tex. Crim. App. 1989) (contract construction governs plea agreements)
Hawthorne v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., 150 S.W.3d 574 (Tex. App.—Austin 2004) (ambiguity analysis in contract interpretation)
Hatley v. State, 206 S.W.3d 710 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2006) (ambiguity and scope of plea agreements)