Verdell Darnell Hall, Jr. v. State, 440 S.W.3d 690

Hall was convicted of aggravated rape in 1981, sentence suspended, and he was placed on community supervision for seven years.
In 1988, the court discharged Hall from probation and set aside the conviction, dismissing the indictment under a 42.12, §20 order.
The 1988 discharge occurred before sex-offender registration duties existed, and Hall had no duty to register at that time.
Hall later registered as a sex offender in 1998 and 1999, but the indictment in this case charged a 2010 failure to register.
The State argues Hall’s 1981 conviction or a comparable adjudication could serve as the predicate for registration, despite the 1988 set-aside.
The court held that, under Cuellar and Article 42.12, §20, Hall’s conviction disappeared and there was no underlying predicate conviction to trigger the registration duty.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the evidence proves a valid predicate conviction.	Hall had no active conviction after 1988.	There remained a reportable conviction or adjudication to trigger registration.	Evidence insufficient; no predicate conviction existed.

Brooks v. State, 323 S.W.3d 893 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010) (standard for legal-sufficiency review)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 () (establishes sufficiency review standard)
Malik v. State, 953 S.W.2d 234 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997) (hypothetically correct jury charge defines elements)
Cuellar v. State, 70 S.W.3d 815 (Tex. Crim. App. 2002) (discusses effect of Article 42.12, §20 discharge on predicate convictions)
Reyes v. State, 119 S.W.3d 844 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2003) (recognizes historical classification of aggravated rape to aggravated sexual assault)
Lutz v. State, 184 S.W.3d 366 (Tex. App.—Austin 2006) (construes reportable convictions with prior statutes)