Recently, the Texarkana Court of Appeals issued an opinion on factual sufficiency after getting a remand order from the Court of Criminal Appeals. The CCA spanked the CA for failing to follow the proper standard of review.

The net result? The CA issued Drichas v. State and, once again, reversed on a deadly weapon issue for factual sufficiency. Which means the case can be retried OVER A DEADLY WEAPON ISSUE and have the same result, going back up and down the appellate ladder with no discernable progress in anyone understanding anything.

I urge you to read the opinion (see link above) and continue to urge the CCA to overrule factual sufficiency review in criminal cases.

The 2nd COA decided a F/S case on Jan 11 this year clearly demonstrating frustration with the std of review. See Powell v. S., No. 02-03-455-CR. The Court reluctantly affirmed. Of course, the defense would have to take up the case. Plainly, Watson has not helped anyone.

JAS

Did anyone ever consider that Drichas was endangering himself? Presumably there is a higher incidence of wrecks involving just the pursued vehicle in a "chase" situation. I wonder if the jurors ever went through the same thought pattern as the court in this case. "Capable" is a rather indefinite term, so this problem is going to arise fairly often, I think.