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543.009 Failure to Appear

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November 07, 2013, 17:38
Lori J. Kaspar
543.009 Failure to Appear
"Moreover, because violation of Section 543.009(b) of the Transportation Code carries a lesser range of punishment than the broader Section 38.10(a) of the Penal Code, the statutes are in irreconcilable conflict. In that event, due process and due course of law require that any defendant who fails to appear after promising to do so under the provisions of the Transportation Code, upon arrest for an offense defined in Title 7, Subtitle C therein, be prosecuted for the Transportation Code offense, not the broader Penal Code offense. In that event, due process and due course of law require that any defendant who fails to appear after promising to do so under the provisions of the Transportation Code, upon arrest for an offense defined in Title 7, Subtitle C therein, be prosecuted for the Transportation Code offense, not the broader Penal Code offense. The Legislature has clearly manifested a policy that a failure to appear in court to answer for a traffic infraction should carry a less severe punishment than other failures to appear. Because the appellant was prosecuted under the Penal Code, and assessed a fine in excess of what was allowable for the Transportation Code offense, he suffered a violation of due process."

Azeez v. State, 248 S.W.3d 182, 193 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008).