Background

• Petitioner Thomas Lloyd Taunton was convicted by a jury of capital murder and murder, receiving life without parole for capital murder and life for murder.
• Two Court of Appeals opinions addressed the same issues arising from joined trials and appeals in the two cases.
• The petitions relate to CR-12-24098 and CR-13-24755 from the 336th Judicial District Court of Fannin County, Texas, and to the Texas Sixth Court of Appeals judgments.
• Taunton sought discretionary review of the Court of Appeals' harmless-error analysis.
• The petition argues the Court of Appeals erred by focusing on the weight of the evidence rather than on the constitutional error and its potential harm.
• The relief requested is for this Court to grant review and remand for proper harm analysis.

Issues

Key Cases Cited

• Snowden v. State, 353 S.W.3d 815 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011) (harm analysis not limited to perceived guilt; consider error and implications)
• Bell v. State, 415 S.W.3d 278 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013) (relevance of ‘‘weight of the evidence’’ in harm review)
• Harris v. State, 790 S.W.2d 568 (Tex. Crim. App. 1990) (initial harm factors for review)
• Clay v. State, 240 S.W.3d 895 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007) (courts must not rely solely on weight of evidence)
• Davis v. State, 203 S.W.3d 845 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006) (harmful error analysis guidance cited by appeals court)
• Schmutz v. State, 440 S.W.3d 29 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014) (additional considerations in harm analysis)