O'MEARA v. State

OPINION

ANDERSON, RUSSELL A., Justice.

In this case, we consider the circumstances under which a criminal defendant is entitled to benefit from a new rule of federal constitutional criminal procedure announced by the United States Supreme Court. The precise question we face is whether appellant Timothy John O’Meara’s criminal case was “pending” when the United States Supreme Court decided Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), thus entitling him to the benefit of the rule announced in that decision, namely, that any fact that increases the penalty for a…