Braughton v. Texas

Christopher Braughton was convicted of murder. On appeal, he challenged the sufficiency of the evidence presented against him, and argued the trial court erred in instructing the jury by omitting a lesser-included offenses instruction on felony deadly conduct. At trial, Braughton acknowledged shooting the complainant, Emmanuel Dominguez, but he claimed that he did so because he reasonably believed the use of such force was immediately necessary to protect himself and his father against Dominguez’s attempted use of deadly force. The jury rejected Braughton’s theory, convicted him of murder, and assessed a sentence of twenty years’ imprisonment. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and deferring to the jury’s credibility determinations and its resolution of the conflicting testimony, the evidence supported a rational jury’s rejection of appellant’s self-defense and defense of third person claims, and thus the evidence was legally sufficient to uphold his conviction for murder. Furthermore, assuming it was error to deny the instruction on felony deadly conduct, the Court determined Braughton was not harmed by any such error in the trial court’s charge. View "Braughton v. Texas" on Justia Law