June 02, 2011, 10:31
Lisa PetersonIn the back of my mind...
there is some rule concerning charging a defendant under the statute that most precisely fits his conduct. Am I dreaming, or can someone help me find it?
(The DA generously agreed to drop a case to me, and now defense counsel is balking. The facts squarely fit the felony, and have to be massaged to make the misdemeanor - and I have been trying to explain to counsel that he can either take a plea with me or it goes back to a felony for trial.)
Thanks!
Lisa L. Peterson
Nolan County Attorney
June 02, 2011, 10:37
John A. Stridein pari materia (the specific statute controls over the more general statute). Judge Onion provides a useful discussion of the doctrine in Ex parte Wilkinson, 641 S.W.2d 927 (Tex. Crim. App. 1982).
June 02, 2011, 10:55
Lisa PetersonThanks, John. I KNEW it was there, but there are times my brain, as Tolkien would say, resembles a lumberyard...that most needed is most deeply buried!
Lisa L. Peterson
Nolan County Attorney
Unfortunately, the inability to call up such legal trivia gets more difficult. Need a google for the brain.
June 03, 2011, 09:08
Lisa PetersonThanks for understanding...on BOTH threads!
Lisa L. Peterson
Nolan County Attorney