Duke v. State

OPINION

TAFT, Justice.

A jury found appellant, James Michael Duke, guilty of capital murder. The State did not seek the death penalty, so the trial court automatically assessed life imprisonment. We address whether the trial court reversibly erred by charging the jury that appellant could be found guilty of capital murder if he intended to aid in “the offense,” where “the offense” was erroneously identified as robbery, instead of capital murder, in an obverse instruction. We also define the term “obverse instruction” and discourage the use of obverse instructions. We affirm.

Facts

Appellant and…